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by carrotycake
Summary: The first Death Star has been destroyed, but the Rebels' troubles are far from over. Starkiller, former apprentice of Darth Vader, is working for the Alliance now, but for how long? Amidst the turmoil of war, Juno Eclipse struggles with her own problems, and plans are put into motion that may change everything. Set approx. four years after the events of the Force Unleashed 2.
1. Prologue

**A/N:** Okay, this is the start of something a little bigger than the stuff I usually write! I've been working on this on-and-off for about 2 years now, so I figured it was finally time to share it with the world! I can't guarantee regular updates, but I've got the first 7 or so chapters written so hopefully we'll see how it goes. :)

It is set around the same time as the _Empire Strikes Back,_ about four years after the events of _The Force Unleashed 2._ I'm slightly ignoring the end of _The Force Unleashed 2,_ pretending for story purposes that Vader's capture wasn't a thing, and neither was his threat about Juno. Apart from that, I'm trying to stick as close to the lore as possible, as well as combining the old canon with the new canon to make it fit a little better - I started writing this before Disney's changes, so some adjustments have been made.

As always, _Star Wars_ belongs to Lucasfilm and Disney etc. etc. and I own nothing! Feel free to review and let me know what you think :)

* * *

 _All of your brothers, they never died_  
 _For what you kill for slowly_  
 _How it will grind you into the ground_  
 _If you should try to hold me_

 _'Strong Hand' - CHVRCHES_

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 ** _1\. Prologue – Imperial Palace, Coruscant_**

The Emperor was tired of failure. He was tired of slippery subordinates unable to do their jobs properly, who ended up with important promotions because there was no other person good enough to take their place. He was tired of democracy, and the endless legions of Moffs all trying to gain an extra penny at the expense of a world or two. They didn't know what _power_ was. True power was crushing the neck of someone who crossed you with the flick of a wrist. It was bringing planets to their knees by the single mention of your name, and controlling billions of species' lives without them knowing.

True power was certainly not a constant search for a ragtag band of rebels. It pained him greatly to see them flourish. The Death Star had been a major setback for the Empire, and several of his officers had lost heads – one, literally – over it. How could an eighteen-year-old girl manage to steal an entire set of blueprints, be chased and captured by Darth Vader and the galaxy's best soldiers, and _still_ manage to get away with it? The Empire was not what it used to be, he mused. Twenty years previously, his soldiers and officers had been the best trained, most efficient, most loyal subjects he could have asked for in his new vision. Now, it seemed everyone was in it for themselves. Wanting, grasping, their grubby hands trying to exploit every credit from the Empire. _His_ Empire.

"Your Excellency?" A voice over his personal comlink broke the Emperor out of his dark thoughts. He glanced at his datapad, and saw the level of encryption the message was being sent with.

"Ah, Cipher." He turned in his chair and, typing in a few commands, sent the message to the holo-display in the centre of the room. An agent – his best agent – of indiscernible age and gender immediately appeared on the display, flickering slightly. The agent's face was covered by a mask, of sorts, and used a voice-distorter; the Emperor knew that this particular agent took anonymity very seriously. He didn't think he had ever seen the agent's true face. Not that it mattered, of course; Cipher got the job done, and did it well.

"You sent for me, sire?" If Cipher showed any sign of being unnerved by the Emperor's presence, the agent didn't show it. The Emperor nodded slowly.

"I have a new assignment for you. This takes precedent over anything else I have previously assigned you."

It seemed the agent's curiosity was peaked, as the Emperor detected a slight tilt of the agent's head; not so much that it would seem impudent, but enough to show that they were interested. The Emperor continued, enjoying the build-up.

"You have heard of the troubles we have been having with the Rebellion?" He spat the last word, like poison to his mouth. Cipher nodded passively.

"Yes, sire. They seem most…inconvenient."

"I assigned Lord Vader the task of annihilating them. He has failed thus far." Palpatine stretched out in the Force, probing for any hint of uncertainty from his spy. He sensed none, and smiled grimly. "I need to end this so-called 'war', and quickly. It does not do for a group of anarchist amateurs to be tarnishing the Empire's fine image, now, would it?"

"No, sire. How do you plan on stopping them? As you said, we have…failed thus far."

The Emperor was pleased with Cipher's use of ' _we'._ The agent was not so stupid that he would openly criticise his superiors in front of another superior. Darth Vader was failing them all, but it was not for Cipher to say so. Clearly, the agent knew where to draw the line.

"Lord Vader is obsessed with finding the Skywalker boy. He does not know that I know this, but I have ears in many places. He believes only then will the Rebels be annihilated. I believe otherwise." He stood up from his throne, and gestured for the agent to join him at the viewport.

"I believe that there are…others within the Rebellion that we should focus our attentions on instead. Others who might be converted more easily than, say, the Skywalker boy." The Emperor glanced at the spy, whose face still gave away no hint of emotion.

"Are you familiar with the call-sign 'Starkiller', Cipher?" he asked the agent. Cipher's head twitched, a head-shake.

"No, sire."

"I did not expect you to be. Starkiller was the call-sign of an apprentice that Lord Vader took on, trained in secret. Of course, my spies notified me almost immediately, but I thought that it would come to nothing. The boy would probably be dead within a year.  
"However, the years passed, and I realised that the apprentice was stronger, more powerful than I had originally thought. He had survived Lord Vader's most brutal training. I guessed that he was going to train the boy until he was too powerful for even me to withstand, so I knew that something had to be done. I ordered Lord Vader to kill the boy, and I watched as Starkiller was impaled on Darth Vader's lightsaber and thrown into the vacuum of space."

The Emperor left the story hanging, and glanced at Cipher. Through the holo-call, he could detect the agent's curiosity rising, but Cipher's expression – or lack thereof – gave nothing away.

"I am guessing that wasn't the end, sire?"

"No. I discovered later that Vader had rescued the boy and taken him to a secret laboratory. Starkiller had been…rebuilt, so to speak. Alive, and more powerful than ever. He was instructed by Lord Vader to sever all ties to the Empire, and seek out my enemies." He gave a short, but menacing laugh. "He meant to gather an army of the people who despise me and turn them against me. What a fool.  
"In due time, the apprentice had succeeded in bringing together some of my…enemies. They did not know he was still loyal to Vader, and they were captured, and brought to me. Vader also left the boy for dead; he had not intended to use him against me. However, he underestimated the power of his former apprentice, who followed him to the Death Star and sacrificed himself to save his new Rebel friends."

"He…sacrificed himself? Then he is dead, surely."

"The original apprentice is dead. Starkiller, to all extents and purposes, is not."

There was a pause. "...Sire?"

"Kamino. The now-defunct cloning operation there. Vader used it to make clones of his former apprentice. All but one were a failure, and the single successful one escaped, driven by his memories – or what he thinks to be his – of his former life."

"He was the one that led the attack on Kamino?" Cipher was quick, much quicker than most of the Emperor's subjects. Perhaps that was what made the agent one of his best.

"I presume he supplied the co-ordinates. He defeated Lord Vader in combat, and would have struck him dead had it not been for the intervention of General Kota."

"So he is still at large."

"Unfortunately." The Emperor's mouth was a grim line. "But he is very powerful. Which is why I believe _he_ will be of far more use to us than Luke Skywalker."

"Why do you think that, sire?"

"He was trained, brought up, in the way of the dark side. Darkness and anger feed him, envelop him. It is hard to sway from the path we have been set on since childhood, and he will be no exception. He has the raw power to destroy the Rebels. We just have to show him…the _right_ way."

Cipher nodded. "You want me to…take him to you?"

"Yes. And no. I want you to get close to them. You have an identity within the Rebels, do you not?"

"I do, sire. Currently my 'identity' is on shore leave on Corellia, visiting family. I can make sure that shore leave is cut short, due to 'unforseen circumstances', and place my identity back within the ranks."

The Emperor was pleased. Having someone already within the ranks would make things easier. He nodded, slowly.

"Gain their trust; more importantly, give me information on Starkiller. His missions, where he is posted; most importantly, his weaknesses. They will be the undoing of him. It will take time, and you will have to be patient. Choose the correct moment, and we will strike. Capturing him will be straightforward, if we know how. Then, I will be able to…change his mind, if you will."

"Yes, sire."

"Very well. You will have to be vigilant. The Rebels are naturally very suspicious. But do whatever is necessary.

Now, leave me. Your full mission briefing will be sent to your datapad. You leave tomorrow on the next shuttle to Corellia. You will tell _no-one_ about the true nature of your mission. Do not fail me."

Cipher bowed. "I will not, sire." With that, the holo-call ended, the blue light fizzling out leaving the Emperor alone in the darkness. The Emperor smiled to himself, sitting himself back down on his throne. Those foolish Rebels _would_ meet their end, one way or another. And if Vader couldn't manage to do it, then he would annihilate them himself.

He almost chuckled, then. Yes, _this_ was power. And once Starkiller was on _his_ side, there would be nothing that could stop him. The galaxy would truly be his.


	2. Undisclosed Beliefs

**A/N:** Apologies for the massive delay in posting! I've been having some editing issues - when I say "issues" I really mean "I wasn't happy with a good chunk of the story so I'm rewriting most of it". But I'll get it done, I promise! In the meantime, here's chapter 1 - now, what has Juno Eclipse been up to in all this time? ;)

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 **2 – Undisclosed Beliefs**

 ** _The Salvation II_**

Today was not a good day. Juno Eclipse suspected tomorrow wouldn't be, either.

"How long have you been feeling this fatigue, Captain?" The _Salvation II_ 's chief medical officer, Dr Rillon, was shining a small flashlight into her eyes as she sat nervously on the examination table. She blinked, trying not to jerk away. The light burned.

"About a month. Maybe two. It's got worse in the last few weeks," she admitted, closing her eyes in relief as the flashlight was put away. Rillon tutted, shaking his lekku as he tapped something into a datapad.

"Juno, you have to look after yourself. Symptoms like this should be reported to me immediately."

Juno nodded. "I know. It's just been a bit hectic recently."

The twi'lek medic sighed. "Well, that's true enough, I suppose. Now, how is your diet? Are you eating properly? As good as you can with a ship's rations, at least."

Juno hesitated for a moment, debating on whether to voice her other concerns. "My appetite has been – erratic, lately. Sometimes I'm starving, sometimes the sight of food makes me feel ill."

Rillon frowned, and typed something else into his datapad. "I see. Anything else?"

"I...Doctor, I can count on complete patient confidentiality?" Juno felt like a guilty teenager again, not wanting to reveal a secret but having no choice. The medic nodded, his frown deepening.

"Of course, Juno. Always. What seems to be the problem? I don't suppose you would come to see me if you were just feeling tired."

"No," said Juno, a half-smile forming briefly, "I probably wouldn't have. It's...ah, a very personal matter."

The medical officer spread his arms, inviting her to speak. She coughed, nervously.

"My, um..." Her face reddened, her tongue unable to speak the words she wanted. "I think I might be pregnant."

She noted a flash of surprise cross his face, but it was quickly hidden by professional calmness. "Pregnant?" he repeated. Juno nodded slowly.

"Yes."

He looked down at his datapad. "Well, these symptoms make more sense, now."

"They do?"

"Fatigue and change of appetite are two of many possible symptoms of pregnancy, Captain. I take it you're late, in the sense of-"

"Um, yes, I am," said Juno, cutting across him. "It would be, um, about three months since – you know."

"Right," said Rillon, frowning again. "Captain, with all due respect, you must have suspected for some time of your condition. I wish you could have told me earlier of your suspicions."

Juno rubbed a hand over her forehead. "Yes. I – I know. After I missed the first one, I suspected. I was...I wanted to see if I was, you know, wrong. So I waited...and then. Well, and then I'm here."

She gave a short, mirthless laugh, and buried her head in her hands. What would her officers think of her? Stars, she hadn't considered that. And now she was on the verge of losing it in the middle of the medical bay. That would certainly be a talking point if any other crew members were to walk in.

Shaking her head, she rubbed her eyes furiously and looked at the doctor. He had sat down, and looked slightly weary.

"I'll take some more tests, just to be sure," he said, smiling kindly at her, "We should get the results in a day or so. Until then," he frowned at her, "Take it easy. How long has it been since you last had time off?"

"It would be...three months," Juno finished. She'd done the math. The doctor raised an eyebrow, and Juno knew what was coming. He was her doctor, but he was also her friend, and she knew him too well for him to pass over a witty remark.

"You enjoyed it, I trust?" he said, a sly smile forming. Juno rolled her eyes.

"If you weren't my friend, I could get you for insubordination," she muttered, "Making fun of a superior officer."

Rillon shrugged. "What happens on shore leave stays on shore leave," he sighed, "Although I can't promise that you will be allowed to stay on active duty if the tests are positive. You know the rules, Captain."

Yes, she did; and how she chastised herself now. She felt foolish, like she'd forgotten the most basic of military rules.

"I'll take those tests now," she said, sliding off of the examination table, "If you don't mind. And then I need to get back to-"

"- No, you don't," interrupted the doctor, waving his datapad at her. "Chief medical officer's orders. Remember?"

Juno shook her head, the corners of her mouth twitching. "Right. I'll take a few hours off. Happy?"

"It'll do, Captain. Now, if you'd step over here, I'll just take a blood sample..."

* * *

It had been approximately four years since the _Salvation_ , Juno's previous command, had been destroyed over Kamino. Thankfully, she had not been on board at the time; if she had, she suspected that she would not be standing in front of the memorial dedicating its memory to its successor, the _Salvation II._ Not the most imaginative of names, but it somehow fit perfectly.

Juno had been nominated as the captain of the newly-commissioned _Salvation II_ (a goodwill present from the Mon Calamari shipyards) around a year after the events of Kamino. There had been a few disagreements within the Admiralty as to whether she should have been nominated in the first place: she had, after all, been suspended temporarily from her position mere days before the _Salvation_ 's destruction. From her old crew, however, there was overwhelming support for her as the new captain – to them, she had proven herself to be a hardworking and loyal leader, one that was dedicated to serving the Alliance.

She and Galen, meanwhile, had settled into a routine of undertaking various recon and espionage missions for the Rebel Alliance. Sometimes with Kota, sometimes without. Juno had privately admitted that it was a little like the old days, when they had been running from everyone, not just the Empire. Just them and the _Rogue Shadow_ , and a million different hyperspace routes.

She thought about this as she stood, distantly staring out of the viewport at an asteroid field. Her life would have turned out very different if it had not been for the arrival of a young Sith apprentice, she thought. What would she have become? _Who_ would she have become?

And what would have happened to Galen?

The thought made her cold, and she shivered. The view out across the asteroid field, in a small system where the Rebel fleet had gathered temporarily, did nothing to calm her mind. She was glad that this section of the ship was temporarily deserted, as crewmembers took the opportunity to meet with friends from other ships in the fleet. Juno wasn't sure she could handle intrusive questions about her wellbeing at the moment.

Her comlink beeped once, signalling an incoming file to her datapad and Juno glanced at it, her shoulders slumping.

 _Message from Dr. Rillon –_

 _Enclosed are the results from your medical test. I'm afraid the outcome is as you suspected._

Juno stared at the screen of her datapad blankly. She had suspected, yes, but the seeing the official results made it all the more real. She hadn't told the doctor the real reason she had been avoiding seeing him – she had childishly thought that perhaps if she ignored the problem, it would go away. Of course, that was never going to be the case.

Now, she had a hundred extra problems to deal with on top of her Alliance duties. As medical check-ups go, thought Juno wearily, that was easily the worst.

She needed time to _think_ ; it had been practically non-stop for months, with the Empire stepping up their search for the Alliance and the Alliance stepping up its attacks on the Empire. Now, on top of everything else – her ship was needing serious repairs, the numbers of recruits were at an all-time low, neither Galen nor Kota hadn't been seen or heard for months – she had a secret, a very unexpected, unwelcome secret that she couldn't do a thing about and left her feeling quite helpless.

She wanted to scream, yell, _anything_ to get her out of this mess. The worst part of it was that she had no-one really she could talk to about it. She had friends aboard the ship, of course, but none she considered close enough to tell. Perhaps if her mother was still alive, she would have asked her, but as it was, she could barely remember her face.

As she contemplated her options, she realised that her legs had been on autopilot, and she had reached the turbolift that would lead her to her cabin. She wondered, keying in the elevator code, what would happen next. What would her fellow crewmembers think of her? She would most likely be discharged from the Alliance. It dawned on Juno that she'd spent all of her adult and most of her adolescent life in active service, whether it was in the Empire or the Alliance. She'd never really known anything else, and thinking about the alternative didn't exactly fill her with joy.

Finally, she reached the door to her cabin and punched the release, collapsing onto her bunk before the door had even fully slid shut. She groaned to herself and ran her hands through her now-messy blonde hair, staring up at the ceiling. All the _signs_ had been there, really, she had just been ignorant enough to not notice.

Now she was angry, wondering how a captain of almost five years' service could have such a terrible lapse of judgement. Juno shook her head, attempting to clear some of the bad thoughts that were hiding at the back of her mind, and leant down from the bunk to grab the datapad, which had somehow made its way onto the floor as Juno had stormed into the room. Poor lapse of judgement, indeed. Sighing, she was jolted out of her musings by a distraction in the way of PROXY, his metal limbs creaking audibly as he entered the room.

"Aha! There you are, Captain!" he called, finally reaching her. If droids could be breathless, PROXY certainly would be, as his servos whined in complaint and he stumbled, his knee-joints threatening to give way. Juno stood up and put a hand out to steady him.

"Easy, PROXY. What's the rush?"

"I believe that I will be receiving a message in the imminent future. Princess Leia left a message earlier saying to expect a transmission soon."

"Oh. What could the princess want?" Juno speculated, swallowing nervously.

"I do not know, Captain. I could not find you after your medical examination so I was unable to notify you."

"That's alright, PROXY. I'm here now."

"So you are, Captain. I trust your medical went well?"

Juno hesitated. "You…could say that, yes. I am in good health." _Well, it's not a lie, exactly._

She heard the door close behind PROXY, and she sat back down on the bunk, feeling suddenly exhausted. Remembering the datachip that the medic had given her, she gingerly inserted it into her datapad. Opening the medical report, she read in more detail, trying to make sense of it all. She'd been too busy reacting to the shock of what the medic had told her to actually pay attention to the finer details.

Juno's eyes skimmed the pages, trying to find the relevant data. Before she had fully read the report, however, PROXY started crackling, his holoprojectors taking on the form of Princess Leia, dressed in full winter gear and looking a little cold.

"Juno. It's good to see you," Princess Leia greeted her warmly. Juno smiled back at her friend, glad for the interruption.

"You too, Princess. How are things on Hoth?"

Leia rolled her eyes.

"Slow. There's still maintenance droids working on some parts of the base, so everywhere is still very cold _._ " As if to prove her point, she shivered in her large winter coat.

"I can imagine," grinned Juno, "Turns out rebellion isn't as glamorous as it looks. I learned that the hard way."

Leia nodded, her cheerful smile fading somewhat. "I think you probably know why I'm calling, though. I've just come off of a call from the chief medic of your ship..."

Juno nodded sombrely. "Should I find a replacement for my position?" It was all happening so _fast._

"Oh! No. I mean – don't be afraid, or anything. The Alliance isn't going to discharge you."

"Really? But I thought – standard protocol…" Juno could hardly believe what she was hearing.

Leia waved down Juno's comment. "This is a war. Drastic times call for drastic measures. Not that your situation would be called _drastic_ , Juno," she added kindly, as if Juno might have been offended by the comment. "No, you're being reassigned from your current position. I'm supervising a classified operation, one that will be taking place in the next few months. It's mainly undercover, recon-type work, so it's less risky than your current position."

"That's…well, it's a lot better than what I could have hoped. Thank you," said Juno, and she meant it. Leia smiled tightly.

"To be honest, you were going to be included in the operation anyway. I just…pulled some strings to get you on it sooner. Any longer on that ship and people might ask questions."

Juno nodded, agreeing. "One question – how did you know? I mean, no offence, but you're not directly my commanding officer."

Leia coughed, looking a little sheepish. "The medic decided it would be best to call me first. What was his name – Doctor Rillon? He's looking out for you. I can assure you that no-one else is aware of your circumstances."

Juno sighed in relief. "When do I leave?"

"Well, you _will_ need someone to take over as captain; I presume your second-in-command is up to the job?"

"Yes."

"In that case, you leave tomorrow, once all your affairs are in order. The co-ordinates should be coming through now; we will be meeting on Hoth before I can tell you anything else."

"It's all classified, then?"

"Unfortunately, yes. I can't afford to take any chances with security over a holo-transmission. Although…" Leia broke off, looking thoughtful. "I suppose it wouldn't be against Alliance protocol to tell you that Galen arrived on Hoth about a week ago. He and Kota are both here, along with the Rogue Shadow."

Juno released a breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding. Thank the _stars._ She hadn't heard a word from Galen since he set off with Kota to some far corner of the galaxy, after their most recent shore leave. And now they were safe. At least that was some of her worries abated.

Some. But not all.

"Does Galen know?" Leia broke into her thoughts. Now she sounded less the regal princess, and more the friend.

"No. I haven't known where he is up until just now, so I wasn't able to contact him."

Leia nodded. "Well, you're not the only one. They were pretty much AWOL until they turned up at the base last week. It looks like they're lying low for a while. Seems they got themselves into some trouble in the Outer Rim which they're trying to avoid. You can ask them yourself when you get here."

 _Oh, I will._ She hated to be the one to say it, but she missed Galen terribly.

"Thank you, Leia," she said again instead, nodding her head. "You've definitely helped my situation."

The princess smiled sadly. "We can only hope. In the meantime, though, don't breathe a word about the mission to anyone. It's still pretty top secret - we're finding that somehow some of our most classified data is slipping through the cracks into the hands of the Imperials."

"I understand," said Juno, feeling the conversation coming to an end. "It's been good talking with you, Princess."

"You too, Captain. You'll receive further details on your transfer soon. I'll be able to sort things out with the rest of the leaders."

Juno nodded in acknowledgment, and then Leia's image flickered and vanished, leaving PROXY standing, looking – if droids could – slightly confused.

"Do I understand, Captain, that we are being reassigned to the Hoth base?"

"It seems that way, PROXY. But-" she broke off, hesitating, "You have to understand that no-one else is to hear about what I was just discussing with Leia. The information is…sensitive."

"Understood, Captain." The droid made an attempt at nodding. Juno looked at her chrono.

"I'd best be getting back to the bridge now. PROXY, you have other duties to be attending to, I presume?"

"Certainly, Captain Eclipse. I'll be on my way. I do hope that the communications department have not suffered in my absence."

Juno hid an amused smile, watching as PROXY wandered out of the cabin, creaking loudly. She noted that he was clearly in need of a service, and made a mental reminder to do that once they arrived on Hoth. Remembering the datapad that she had discarded on her bunk when Leia's transmission had come through, she picked it up and frowned. Sitting down again – her crew were perfectly capable of managing another couple of minutes without her – she flicked through the rest of the report, trying to ignore the gnawing feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach. Telling Galen would be the hardest thing, she knew. She felt like she had known him for so long, but she still had no idea how he would react.

Closing the report and shutting off her datapad, she stood up and smoothed down her uniform, looking at her reflection in the mirror anxiously. Hopefully her crew wouldn't suspect anything untoward, at least until she had left the ship.

The thought of being judged for something that, really, was inevitable caused Juno's cheeks to burn. She had found herself in the sort of predicament that Juno would have strongly condemned in the not-too-distant past. Her views had gradually become more liberal as the Empire's influence had ebbed; enough to make her see that she had done nothing wrong, per se. There was just that tiny niggle at the back of her mind, the part of her conscience still firmly in the mind of the Empire that whispered, _But you remember what happened to pilots when things like this happened…_

Shaking her head at an attempt to clear her thoughts, Juno glared at herself in the mirror. She and Galen had been together for a long time. They had survived the battle of Kamino, the destruction of the Death Star and the fall of Dantooine and Alderaan. They could surely survive this.

However, that didn't stop Juno Eclipse, decorated combat pilot and captain for the Rebel Alliance, from feeling totally, utterly afraid.

* * *

 **end note** : Hope you managed to get through all the dialogue! Thanks for sticking with this, if you've got this far - I'm really excited to share the rest of the story soon! hugs x

also forgot to say! i have tumblr, find me on my art/writing blog as **carrotycake**. or my general fandom blog **itsacuriousthing** :D


	3. Transmissions

**A/N:** what's this? A regular update? wowee! here's a little more exposition for you, just to keep the suspense going. How is Juno dealing with her secret? what the hell has Galen been up to? Read on, my friends :)

(As always, comments and criticism are always valued! I own nothing except the plot.)

* * *

 **3 – Transmissions**

 _ **Somewhere near Echo Base, Hoth**_

"You'd better hurry up, boy, or we're going to freeze to death out here!"

Galen gritted his teeth and activated his lightsaber, illuminating the ice cave in its brilliant blue light. He drove it into to the wall, using all his strength to try and carve out a hole into the solid ice.

"I'm _trying_ , General! Perhaps if the Rebels had picked a better place for their secret base we wouldn't be having this problem!" he growled, in no mood for Kota's complaints. It was, after all, Kota's complaining about having nothing to do that had found them here, in the middle of an ice cave on Hoth, trying to fix a faulty transmitter. The transmitter had now been fixed, but in the time taken to repair the transmitter, the opening of the cave had been blocked by the build-up of snow, and then solidified in the freezing temperatures. Now their problem lay with actually getting out, which was becoming increasingly difficult as the temperature dropped. The snow-wall had become at least three metres thick, which even a lightsaber found hard to cut through.

" _You're a Jedi, boy! Size means nothing to you!"_

Galen whipped round to look at Kota, even though he knew the voice was from the past. Strange. That still happened to him occasionally. Those voices. He wasn't as troubled as he once was; the voices only seemed to appear to him in moments of intense concentration or danger. Still, past-Kota was right. Why was he wasting his time trying to cut through the ice, when he had the Force to guide him? Extinguishing his lightsaber, he clipped it to his belt and focused very hard on the wall, hands outstretched. He felt through the Force its pressure points and areas of weakness and gently pushed, ignoring the howling gales that whistled through the cracks of the weakening ice wall. Finally, he felt it start to crumble, so gathered all his energy and gave a massive push through the Force. The ice gave an almighty groan, collapsing and falling into a million pieces and was swept away by the raging blizzard. Galen pulled his hood up and turned to the general, who was looking smug.

"Come on, Kota. We should get going before we're ripped apart by this storm."

Together they ventured out into the wilderness, the cold pressing in on them from all sides. They had taken the _Rogue Shadow_ out for the expedition, but Galen was starting to worry what the constant battering of the wind and snow would do to its systems. It certainly wasn't designed for this kind of weather, unlike the snowspeeders that were currently sitting dormant, back at the base. Pressing some buttons on his comlink, he waited for a few moments before hearing the familiar whine of the _Rogue Shadow'_ s landing repulsors.

"Thank the Force," murmured Kota behind him. Galen looked at him with some bemusement.

"You can blame yourself for this one, General," he called back, making his way with some relief up the boarding ramp.

Settling himself in the pilot's chair, he carefully manoeuvred the _Rogue Shadow_ so that they were heading back to the base, at a considerable speed.

"Unngh. Never again." Kota was slumped in the co-pilot's chair, muttering to himself. Galen almost smiled.

"You're getting on, old man. Sure this isn't getting too much for you?"

Kota glared at him with his blind eyes. "Of course not. I haven't kept going this long to let something as trivial as _snow_ to defeat me."

"Well, I'll remind you of that the next time we get sent to fix another transmitter out here," said Galen, smirking at Kota's expression. He could see Echo Base coming into view on his scopes – the blizzard was still too thick to see through with the naked eye – and slowed the engines, noticing that they were being hailed by the base.

" _Rogue Shadow,"_ crackled the comm, "please transmit landing codes immediately."

Kota leaned forward, shaking snow out of his shaggy hair, and jabbed the comlink. "This is General Rahm Kota and Starkiller, requesting permission to land at Echo Base with the _Rogue Shadow_. Authorisation code Wampa-Foxtrot-Fourteen-Nine."

There was a pause, and then a click at the other end of the line. "Code checks out. You're all clear to approach the base, the hangar doors will be opening now."

Through the torrents of snow, Galen could faintly see an outcrop of building through the viewport. He used the ship's sensors to guide them into the hangar, and set down with a soft thump. He may not be as good a pilot as Juno, perhaps, but he could still fly the _Shadow_ with some skill.

"You're thinking about her again," said Kota conversationally, as they exited the cockpit and made their way down the landing ramp. Galen bristled.

"Stay out of my mind, Kota," he muttered, although the general was, of course, correct. He _had_ been thinking about Juno. It had been over three months since he had last seen her, and he was missing her. The week of shore leave that they'd had off together had been some of the happiest that he could remember. Thanks to some wrangling by both Juno and Kota – much to Galen's and probably Juno's surprise – she had managed to convince her superiors that she had 'business' to attend to whilst _The Salvation II_ was docked on Talus. Business which had involved them getting very lost in one of Talus's many dense forests, which may or may not have been intended.

Galen smiled to himself, remembering the trip as if it were yesterday. It had been good to catch up and spend some quality time with each other that didn't involve shouting orders or being shot at. And then it was back to business, flown out across opposite ends of the galaxy for another goodness-knows-how-many months. He couldn't even contact her this time around, as he was meant to be 'undercover' with Kota, something which he had greatly opposed. Now, of course, he didn't know where _she_ was, so they were both as clueless.

"Humph. I don't need the Force to tell what you're thinking, boy. You're just easy to read," Kota retorted. Galen shrugged uncomfortably.

"I'm no Jedi. I can think what I want." He strode through the hangar in the direction of the nearest turbolift with Kota following him closely.

"What I'm trying to say is that your feelings – however obvious – are your own, and you're perfectly at leisure to think what you like. But they make you easy prey for Vader. Juno is your one weakness and that fact is plain as day to everyone – Vader could exploit that, don't you see?"

"He's already done that once, Kota, and I swear on my _life_ that it will _never_ happen again," Galen growled, angry with Kota's lecture. They had had this conversation several times before, always with the same outcome.

"Fine. But if Juno is harmed by Vader trying to get to you, then you'll only have yourself to blame."

Galen bit back an angry retort, knowing that Kota was probably right. It wasn't as if he himself hadn't had exactly the same thoughts, over and over again. Couldn't Kota see the source of his nightmares, if he was apparently 'easy to read'? He knew that both his and Juno's chosen professions meant that their chances of survival were not very high anyway, so he tried not to let it bother him. It was easier during the day, when his mind was occupied; fighting and chasing and sparring certainly chased any other thoughts away. It was the nights that bothered him, however – the dreams came, then, and he wasn't sure how to get rid of them. They weren't all necessarily bad, although there was the occasional nightmare that led him to wake suddenly, shivering in a cold sweat. The dreams – all of them – disconcerted him because he didn't understand them, and he couldn't control them. They twisted, out of reach, leaving him helpless. Talking to Juno about them helped, but she wasn't here, and he didn't like to shoulder her with that burden, anyway. Sighing, he jabbed the button for the turbolift and stepped in, Kota following him closely. Time for a mission report.

* * *

"Well, that's everything packed." Juno was kneeling on the floor of her cabin, next to a small holdall that contained her belongings. Which didn't consist of much, it seemed. Apart from some civilian clothes, two blasters and some gadgets including her chrono and a spare comlink, she really didn't own anything of value. Her entire life appeared to be compacted into an old holdall, the only thing remnant of her days as an Imperial cadet.

"Shall I take it down to the shuttle, Captain?" PROXY was hovering nervously nearby. He seemed as unsure of the transfer as Juno was, although she was careful to keep her feelings in check.

"Thank you, PROXY. I have a meeting with the commodore scheduled and then we're all clear to set off. In fact, you could get the shuttle ready whilst you're down there. My meeting shouldn't take too long."

"Certainly, Captain." PROXY nodded an affirmative and left the cabin, leaving Juno sitting on the floor, alone with her thoughts. Again. With some difficulty – she had been having dizzy spells lately, another thing to add to her list of growing concerns – she hoisted herself off the ground and examined her cabin for one last time. It was fairly roomy, as a captain's would be, with a bunk on one wall and a small desk facing the opposite. Otherwise, it was the same as all of the other sleeping quarters on the ship – clean, grey and functional. Certainly, Juno had no personal effects that decorated her quarters; she had no family back home, after all, to display in a holograph.

Which wasn't strictly true, as it turned out. As she checked the storage drawers one last time, she found a faded piece of flimsi wedged neatly in the join at the back of the unit. Pulling it out and wiping away the dust, Juno frowned as she realised who was in the picture. A six-or-seven-year-old Juno was grinning toothily at the camera while her mother, her hair and features almost identical to Juno's, looked on, smiling. It looked to be one of those photos that had been taken accidentally, the angle slightly off and the edges blurry. That would explain why it had been discarded at the bottom of a bag, and then presumably fallen out without Juno noticing. She gazed at the picture sadly for a moment, knowing that her mother was killed probably not too long after the picture was taken. _However_ , she thought _,_ shaking herself mentally _, brooding around is not going to make this any easier._ Her mother was dead, and had been for a long time.

Juno's comlink chimed, bringing her out of her unhappy thoughts. That meant that the Commodore had arrived on board her ship. _Good._ Now she could stop pacing and move on with things. Stuffing the flimsi in her back pocket, she took a final glance at the cabin that had served her for the past three years before striding out of the door and leaving it behind.

She met Commodore Viedas as he arrived from his shuttle. Together they walked to one of the conference rooms, to discuss some final matters before she departed the _Salvation II_.

"Ah, Captain Eclipse. A sad day for the _Salvation,_ I believe. Your crew – and indeed myself – will be sorry to see you go."

Juno nodded modestly, acknowledging the commodore's compliment, "I will, too, Commodore. It's a fine ship, and I couldn't have asked for a better crew. I have left the bridge in the capable hands of my second-in-command, Lieutenant Takllon. You'll consider him for Captain, as I recommended?"

Viedas nodded. "Of course. There is no one suited better to the ship than someone who has served next to its former captain for three years."

Juno breathed a barely-audible sigh of relief, relaxing slightly. "That's good. I just wanted to tie up all the loose ends before I leave."

"I understand, Captain. It's natural to feel a little anxious when leaving a ship. Now, there's just one last thing…"

 _Uh-oh._ She hadn't spoken to Viedas personally on the matter, but she was sure that news travelled quickly amongst the higher-ups.

"…I have not been made aware of the, ah, _full_ circumstances of your reassignment, but I can make an educated guess." The Rodian coughed politely. "I am also close friends with Dr. Rillon. He told me a little, and instructed me to watch out for you. Not that I make a habit of gossiping, I might add."

Juno bowed her head. "Of course, sir. I – I wasn't planning on telling many people, myself."

The commodore looked at Juno with sympathy, placing a four-fingered hand on her shoulder. "I was going to suggest that you don't. For your sake, and the Alliance's. Although I'll warn you – Mon Mothma doesn't know yet. I can't promise what her reaction will be."

Juno smiled tightly, and nodded. "Well, we'll see that when it comes. Thank you, sir, for your support over the last few years. You've given me a lot of chances that I might not have otherwise deserved."

"You are too harsh on yourself, Captain. Remember that this is not the Empire. We may be strict, but we are not opposed to forgiveness, either. Now, I'd better be going. The fleet are moving on soon, as I'm sure you are aware."

Juno saluted, and the commodore left, an escort of troopers forming around him as he made his way back down to the hangar. Viedas' remark about the Empire stung slightly, although she was sure it was not intended as such. She remembered the distrust, resentment even, that had greeted her when she first joined the ranks of the rebellion. Having kept her title of captain, she presumed that some thought she was 'cheating the system', so to speak. After all, she used to be the enemy. Why should she be trusted with the rank of captain? The fact that Bail Organa and his daughter had found her trustworthy helped, as had her speech at the inauguration of the original _Salvation_. Eventually, the voices had backed down, and most conceded that she was actually quite good at her job, and was _not_ , contrary to common belief, an Imperial spy. She had earned the trust of the Rebel Leaders, and of her crew, and that was all that mattered to her. Well, that and other things.

Earlier that day, she had sent a message ahead to Echo Base on Hoth, where she was to be temporarily stationed. The station commanders had already confirmed that they had received it, and had granted her security clearance through an encrypted message. She had also sent a message to Galen, now that she knew where he was, explaining her arrival. She hadn't mentioned exactly why she was coming; Juno had considered it, but it was hard to find the words to put in a simple recorded message.

She had also checked the station's schematics, not wanting to arrive unprepared, and was surprised to see how unfinished it was. Princess Leia certainly hadn't been exaggerating when she said it was cold – the final block of the base was still in the foundation stage, naturally causing the interior temperature to be lower than average. The surface temperature of Hoth fluctuated between minus ten and minus sixty-five standard degrees, and it was constantly experiencing severe storms and blizzards, meaning that the wearing of approved winter gear was enforced at all times. Hoth was out of the way, sure, but it was also going to be a lot of work to maintain.

Still, Juno was no engineer. She was just there to found out what plans Leia had in store for her. And, of course, she would see Galen. Sighing, she nodded to the sentry outside the door of the conference room as she left, heading towards the hangar. There was no point in prolonging her time here, not now that she had officially handed the reins over to her second-in-command for the time being and was ready to leave. She had said all her goodbyes, and didn't want to make this anymore painful than it had to be. By the time she had reached the shuttle, PROXY had already started it up and was waiting for Juno to make the necessary calculations and finalise the coordinates. He looked up as she entered the cockpit, moving out of the pilot's seat to let her in.

"I have checked all systems, Captain Eclipse, and everything is functioning at full capacity. Judging by our coordinates, I estimate that we will be in hyperspace for approximately fifteen-point-two hours."

Juno smiled gratefully at the droid. "Thanks, PROXY. You didn't need to do all that."

"Well, it is in my primary programming, Captain. My Master made it explicitly clear in my orders that I am to help you in any way possible." PROXY looked at her unflinchingly, almost if he was wondering why she should say such a thing. It made Juno smile, the first real thing in days. She hadn't been overly fond of the droid when she'd first met him impersonating her in the hangar of the _Executor_ , but after five years, a change of primary programming and numerous times saving her skin, she'd grown quite fond of the bumbling droid.

"Alright then. Let's get this shuttle in the air. The sooner we arrive at Echo Base, the better." With one hand on the throttle, she carefully pushed it forwards, feeling the thrust of the engines as the shuttle lifted off the ground and through the force field that protected the hangar from space debris. Checking the coordinates for the final time, she pressed various buttons and levers, taking the ship smoothly into hyperspace. She sat back in her chair, feeling a little more relaxed. PROXY, however, was looking at her curiously.

"Are you in any particular hurry, Captain? I suspect Master Galen is missing you."

Juno almost laughed, but bit her lip to stop herself.

"Really? What gives you that impression?"

"Only that you appear to be missing him, and I presume his feelings are mutual. Whenever you are together, he is very different to his usual self. I have seen him change a great deal since he met you, Captain."

Juno smiled privately to herself, thinking of the last time they were together. Yes, he had changed since they had met. He could still be his grumpy, stubborn, moody self at times, but in him she could also see compassion, sympathy and – with her, anyway – love; traits she had never seen him to show whilst he was in the service of Darth Vader. She would be the first to admit that he could be difficult sometimes – she had lost count of the times they had argued about something, usually trivial – but she knew him better than anyone else – he vice versa – and she wouldn't give him up for the world. She just hoped their relationship would be strong enough to survive the coming months, and she wasn't just referring to her upcoming assignment. Placing a hand on her abdomen, she closed her eyes for a moment and leant back in her seat. She felt exhausted, all of a sudden.

"Are you well, Captain? You look a little tired, if I may say so."

"Thank you, but I'm fine, PROXY. It's just been a tiring few days, what with preparing the _Salvation II_ for the changeover and making final arrangements for my transfer." That was a part-truth; in reality, she knew that the tiredness certainly did not have anything to do with her transfer. She had been experiencing this for several weeks now, although the medic had assured her that the fatigue and the nausea would fade. Which was a relief, as not only was it uncomfortable, she found it slightly humiliating. It made her feel incompetent, which in turn brought feelings of guilt for even daring to think that when she had so many other important things to worry about.

No, she would be an adult about this and face it head-on. Right now, she had more important things to be concerned with. She held a tiny life within her, now, and she had to be responsible.

"Well, perhaps it would be a good idea for you to get some rest, Captain. We are not due out of hyperspace for another fifteen hours."

"Perhaps you're right, PROXY." Juno suddenly wanted to be alone. She just needed some time to get to grips with what was happening. It was all getting to be a bit too much. She headed aft, leaving PROXY at the controls, and collapsed tiredly onto one of the small bunks in the crew sleeping quarters.

Knowing she wouldn't be disturbed, she gingerly lifted up her uniform jacket to expose her stomach, looking down at it ruefully. There _was_ a slight bump; noticeable to Juno, although her uniform was certainly still bulky enough to cover it. Later, it would be more difficult to hide, and then the questions would begin, Juno supposed.

She wondered, not for the first time, what she would be like as a mother. The thought scared her; the idea of being completely responsible for someone else's life like that was terrifying. Once the initial shock off finding out about her pregnancy had worn off, she had thought at great length about what was going to happen. She had suspected for a while, of course; she had put off getting her medical appointment out of sheer cowardice. She wanted to do well, and not fail her child like her father failed Juno as a child.

It wasn't as if she had never wanted a family; the thought had just never really crossed her mind since she entered the military. She certainly did not want to bring up a child in a war zone like this: with Darth Vader, the Emperor and the Empire in general still at large, the dangers for the child of a Rebel captain and former Sith apprentice would be unimaginable. Juno didn't how she could protect one small being from the horrors of the universe.

"You've got me into a hell of a lot of trouble," she murmured, feeling more than a little foolish that she was talking to what was– technically – a very tiny bundle of cells who probably couldn't hear her just yet. Still, it was strangely reassuring to know that she wasn't alone, especially in times like this. She knew that, although her future was becoming increasingly uncertain, she would try to care for her child to the best of her abilities, no matter the cost.

If Juno had never been sure of anything in her life, she was sure of that. Even if it meant leaving the Rebels, she would do it. However much it pained her to think that. She just hoped Galen would feel the same, too. That was the main cause of her worries, now – would he come to accept it the same way as she had? He had little to no experience with this side of human nature, having been socially isolated for the majority of his young life. What did he know of parental instincts?

Juno yawned and closed her eyes, chastising herself for thinking the worst of the man she loved. It will be fine. _Fine._ She leaned back on the bunk, feeling sleep starting to creep up on her. Too much had happened in the past week for her to be able to think straight. She needed to have a good long sleep, and then maybe everything will seem clearer.

"You hear that?" Juno whispered, more to herself than anyone else as she gently rubbed her stomach, "We're going to be alright, you and me. Just you wait."

Even so, she still worried. When she finally fell asleep, her thoughts were of Galen and her unborn child, a dizzying torrent of memories and dreams.

* * *

"So what you're _really_ saying is, you think you're too, I quote, 'important to the Rebellion' to be posted on maintenance missions?" Captain Wakthl, the Bith commander in charge of maintenance, looked at Kota sternly. The older Jedi merely folded his arms and glowered. Galen said nothing. He knew when to stand his ground, and when to not make a fuss. Well, usually. Both Kota and Galen found the Alliance infuriating at times, with the leaders' endless disagreements and bureaucracy, and their inability to act when it was truly needed. The Death Star was different, of course; Galen had been impressed with how they had carried out the attack, and with the friendly (if a little over-enthusiastic) Skywalker boy.

There was just a part of him that thought that the entire catastrophe could have been prevented by the Rebels acting just a little sooner, but he kept that to himself. He was as sorry for Alderaan's loss as everyone else, and he suspected that saying anything to do with it might cause the Alliance leaders to look upon him even more unfavourably than they already did. Returning to the argument at hand, he wondered if Kota was going to get his way. The older Jedi was notorious for his constant badgering, trying to get the Alliance to approve him and Galen's missions. Most of the time they did. If they didn't – well, they went on them anyway.

All the assignments been so far successful, apart from their most recent voyage to the Outer Rim to try and deal with some Hutts that had been slicing Alliance databanks and feeding information to the Empire, which had ended in disaster – Galen had managed to root out the source of the leak, but in the process of eliminating it, one of the lower Hutts had recognised the two from Imperial 'wanted' holos and had called the local Moff to come down on them. Galen and Kota had barely escaped with their lives and their ship, and had lost precious Rebel information in the process.

 _That's probably why they sent us to this barren, Sith-forsaken planet,_ thought Galen, dryly. He didn't think Kota was going to win this particular argument with their commander, not after their last unauthorised mission. He watched the ongoing dispute with detached amusement, not really caring much. It didn't matter to him where he was posted, so long as he was doing _something_. If repairing transmitters was what it took to take down Darth Vader and the Emperor, then so be it. For the time being, anyway.

"Uh…s-sorry to interrupt, sir…" A young cadet had timidly appeared, holding his datapad tightly as he eyed up his superiors in the room. Captain Wakthl frowned in annoyance.

"We've almost finished the debriefing session, Ensign. Can it wait?"

The ensign gulped. "Ah, yes, s-sir. Just that a – a message has c-come through for Starkiller from a – a C-captain Eclipse, and will be w-waiting on his c-comms unit back in his cabin. Th-that's all." He backed out of the room, face reddening. Galen's heart raced. _Why would Juno be contacting him?_ He was still technically under-the-radar with Kota, and he was fairly certain that no-one had been authorised to tell her their location. Not that that mattered to him. If either of them had got their way, they would _not_ be stationed at opposite ends of the galaxy, out of contact with each other. There must be something urgent, for someone to have broken protocol and told her his location. He shifted in his seat, arms folded. Waiting out the last few minutes of the meeting was not going to be easy.

After what seemed like eternity, but was in reality only about five minutes, the commander concluded the meeting and moved to talk privately with one of the engineers. Galen exhaled loudly and stood up, striding from the room without another word. He could hear Kota calling after him, but he had no time for the Jedi's preaching. He had gone three months without a word from Juno, and vice versa – that was long enough, in his opinion.

* * *

"Coming out of hyperspace in three…two…one…" Juno tapped some keys on the control panel and the streaked starlines of hyperspace slowed, replaced by the stars of realspace. Out of the viewport she could see the great ice-planet of Hoth, covered entirely in white. It made her cold just thinking about it. She wondered what she would be doing at Echo Base; Princess Leia had been suitably vague and secretive in her transmission. Then again, she didn't particularly mind whatever she did, as at least Echo Base was fairly out of the way and remote. That small bump, so far hidden by her uniform, wasn't going to get any smaller.

Juno sighed, setting the shuttle in a slow orbit of the planet, and leant back in her chair. She needed to wait to be hailed by the Rebels, as the security was so tight she hadn't been given exact coordinates for the base. It was annoying, as now she had to sit and wait, when she would rather be shutting down the engines and walking out onto the base. It also gave her more time to think, which was not what she wanted. She needed to see Galen, but she wasn't sure if that would help.

She was still in two minds on whether to tell him or not. Whilst he was better at controlling his emotions than he was as a teenage Sith, she worried about how he would take the news. Even the best of people could react badly to unexpected news.

The idea of _children_ – she was having _their child_ – was all very strange, and Juno wasn't particularly looking forward to the next few months. Having his support would make it easier, though. That was her real worry – she would raise the child herself if she had to, and the thought scared her. She couldn't understand the strange protectiveness that she felt, the knowledge that she would do anything for this child, even though the pregnancy was unplanned and unexpected. It was just – _there._ She would protect this child, no matter the cost. Even if it meant flying far, far away from the Rebels; from Galen if it came to that. Although Juno hoped, with all of her heart, that it wouldn't come to that.

She shook her head, trying to rid herself of the thoughts that were circling her head. The same scenarios kept going round and round in her mind, and was starting to wear her down. She had been sleeping terribly for the past few weeks, and it was starting to show. Juno hadn't fully realised how haggard she looked until she had glanced in the mirror before leaving the _Salvation II_. There were dark circles under her eyes and her skin was deathly pale; she felt weak, and it bothered her. Perhaps a quiet station such as Hoth would be good for her; recently, it felt like she'd had far too much stress in her life.

"This is Echo Base. Please identify yourself."

With a barely audible sigh of relief, Juno pressed the open comm. "This is Captain Juno Eclipse, requesting landing; authorisation code Giga Nye Twenty-Five-Seven."

There was a pause, and then a click as the voice came back online. "You're clear to land, Captain. Sending the coordinates now."

Juno tapped in the coordinates and let the nav-computer do the rest of the work. The base appeared to be on the opposite side of the planet, so it would take a few minutes to get there. But, at least she would see Galen when she landed. It was, at least, some consolation to her current state of confusion.


	4. Reunited

Edit: forgot to add an author's note, sorry! Maybe the chapter title will give you a hint at what happens next, anyhow ;)

As always, I own nothing, and I always appreciate your comments!

* * *

 **4 - Reunited**

 ** _Echo Base, Hoth_**

It wasn't often that Galen found himself smiling, or even in a good mood, for that matter. Usually, as the Rebels around him came to realise, it would be to do with a certain Rebel captain by the name of Juno Eclipse. Rumours circulated, but no-one was really sure of the true extent of their relationship; how they met, where they met, what exactly the smart, wise-cracking captain saw in the brooding agent known to most as Starkiller.

"Let them guess," she'd smile, before hooking her arms around his neck and pressing her lips against his, so that anything else was quite impossible for him to concentrate on. He missed her, terribly; Three months felt like an eternity when Juno wasn't there.

"Pass me that hydrospanner, would you?" Galen called to the astromech droid giving him a hand with some repairs on the _Rogue Shadow_. The engine had been slightly damaged in the recent snow storm, and the shields looked like they needed some work. As well as about twenty other different parts of the ship, but it would function for now. The little droid, loaned to him temporarily by Princess Leia, seemed enthusiastic as it cheeped and whistled away. He just had to direct it to the problem, and it would go to work immediately, its little welder sparking as it went about the repairs. It also had a very unique personality – Galen would put it on a par with PROXY, even though he couldn't understand a word of what it was saying.

A hydrospanner was indeed thrown in his direction, narrowly missing his head. Galen caught it, with some help from the Force, and set about his own repairs.

"You're hiding from me, boy."

Galen sighed, and slid out from underneath the ship's innards to look at the source of the voice.

"Kota. Have you come to lecture me again about Juno? Because there's nothing you can say or do about that."

The blind man shook his head.

"There's a time and a place for that. Besides, she's arriving soon, as I'm sure you know. And she's a nice girl, but I wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of her."

Galen nodded, thoughts of Callos forming in his head. He quickly pushed them away, not sure at all why they had appeared, and focused on the positive. _Juno was coming. They would be together again._ He remembered something that had been on his mind recently, and thought to voice his concern.

"Do you know the reason why she's coming? It seems like an unusual transfer, especially for a Captain of her rank," he said, getting to his feet and wiping the dust and grease off his overalls. Kota shrugged.

"Well, you heard the message," he grunted, "It's top-secret, classified intel. You'll just have to wait, boy."

"That's the official line," Galen argued, "But I got the feeling that wasn't the whole reason. Something just felt…off. It's hard to explain. Something in Juno's voice, I guess."

"I have been feeling something different in the Force recently," Kota admitted, his gruffness fading for a moment, "but the Force works in mysterious ways. You can interpret it in any way you like."

The old man cracked a smile. "Besides, it's no bad thing that she's coming. It means you'll stop looking so sullen all the time. Lighten up, boy. It'll do you good."

"You're one to talk," muttered Galen, but he knew the old general was probably right. He did have a reputation of being somewhat moody, but that wasn't _really_ his fault. He was starting to improve. A little. That didn't stop the furtive, intimidated glances often sent his way when they thought he wasn't looking, however. He was used to it now, so it didn't bother him. Juno was on her way. That was what mattered to him now.

"Maybe I am," replied Kota, "But I've lived a lot longer than you have. I have an excuse."

The hint of a smile reached Galen's face, and he shook his head at the Jedi. "That's a terrible excuse."

"Hmph. Whatever you say." He waved a hand vaguely. "I'll leave you to it. It looks like you're getting on fine with the repairs, though," Kota nodded at the _Rogue Shadow_. "How long until it's ready to fly again?"

"Now, if you want. But I'd like to do some more work on it, so maybe a day or two. Don't worry, general, you won't be out of action for long. I'm sure you can hitch a lift on one of the snowspeeders if you need to." Galen smirked at the general, and he glowered back.

"Fine. I'll be in the mess hall if you need me." With that, he loped off, presumably to find someone else's ship to hijack. Galen turned his attention back to the repairs, but was soon distracted again by the arrival of a shiny, gold protocol droid. He presumed that it belonged to Princess Leia.

"I'm terribly sorry to bother you," it wittered, "But Her Former Royal Highness has asked me to tell you that she needs the services of R2-D2, and must request that you return him a little earlier than expected."

"Artoo-Deetoo? Oh, right. Him," said Galen, pointing to the little astromech still welding away at the ship.

"Yes," said the protocol droid, "That is the one. Princess Leia has an important transmission coming through, and Artoo is the trusted droid for the job. Goodness knows why, however. How she can trust that oversized bag of bolts is _quite_ beyond me."

Galen had to hold back a laugh at the droid's words. The astromech droid, Artoo, has stopped its welding and was wheeling over to them. It emitted a series of angry beeps, and the protocol droid seemed quite affronted.

"How dare you! I must say, I have never met a droid with such bad manners. Come on, we must get back to the princess immediately. I – what did you say? Goodness. The things I must put up with…"

The protocol droid bid Galen farewell, and together with Artoo, moved away to enter one of the turbolifts to take them further into the base. He shook his head, still feeling slightly baffled by the whole encounter.

It was then that Galen realised that there was more activity than usual around the hangar. He could see harried engineers checking readings and shouting numbers at each other, and mechanics checking the hangar doors. That was odd; only ten minutes previously the hangar had been almost deserted. That must mean-

 _Juno._

She must have just entered the atmosphere; suddenly, he could feel her, sense her in the Force, and it was one of the most wonderful feelings he would ever have the pleasure to experience. Three months was far too long; he didn't care about why she was coming, or how she had gotten the transfer. They would be together again, at last, and could catch up on the time spent apart.

However, he realised suddenly that he had been standing stock still with his eyes faraway for the best part of a minute, and knew that he wasn't exhibiting the best behaviour for someone supposed to be doing repairs. He sighed, and resorted to pacing the hangar until a technician gave him a dirty look and accused him of 'messing up his readings'.

Muttering an apology, he walked back around the side of the _Rogue Shadow_ and opened the maintenance hatch, attempting to finish what he had been doing earlier, although his mind wasn't in it. After nearly electrocuting himself and swearing profusely – again causing the technician to scowl – he could hear the jabbering from comlinks, and knew that something was happening with the hangar doors.

He bent back over his repairs and tried to distract himself, with limited success. It wasn't long until he could see Juno. That was all that mattered.

"Uh…Starkiller?"

Galen turned around to look at the source of the voice to see the timid ensign from the day before standing a few feet away, fiddling with a datapad.

"Yes?"

"I just w-wanted – I mean, that is, I've been g-given the information to tell you – a shuttle from the ship _Salvation II_ is d-due to dock in the hangar in a c-couple of minutes…" The ensign paused, tapping away at his datapad. "I p-presume this information is relevant to you?"

"Um, yes, it is," said Galen, although he had already worked that out, "Thank you. Who – how did you get the information?"

The ensign blanched, apparently unused to being asked direct questions. "Oh. Um. J-Just the general t-transmission records and radar screens. Anyone w-within the Rebels can access them." He nodded at Galen and hurried away, his comlink squawking instructions at him. Galen shook his head, but didn't dwell on the strange young recruit. Instead, he found himself clenching and unclenching his fists, trying not to let his eagerness show. Not long now, and Juno would be here. He put away his tools and tidied up the area, giving himself something to do while he waited. The hangar area was huge, but he knew that he wouldn't – couldn't – miss her, not when they were so close.

Eventually, finally, he could hear the huge hangar bay doors opening, and could see from his vantage point several ships flying in, landing cautiously on their assigned docking bays. Starkiller leaned against the _Rogue_ _Shadow_ , arms folded. He couldn't tell exactly which one was Juno's, as all the ships looked pretty much the same, but he could sense from the ship stationed – naturally – furthest away from the _Shadow_ that certain sense he felt in the Force whenever Juno was around. It took all of his willpower not to go over and find her himself, but he reckoned that that probably wouldn't be the best way of keeping things private between them. No, he would wait, and be _patient_. He could almost hear Kota's voice in his head.

" _Patience, boy."_

He could remember the general saying those exact words over Kashyyyk, before he had realised that it was none other than Princess Leia of Alderaan he would be rescuing. Although, in her defence, she probably didn't really need rescuing. He had seen her work with the Rebellion over the last couple of years; for someone raised as royalty, she was incredibly competent both on and off the battlefield.

Galen could see Juno walking towards him now, having left PROXY by the shuttle. He found that his heart was beating wildly, and he seemed to have lost the capacity to speak.

"Juno!" he called, when she was within earshot. Just to check that it _was_ her, and that he was not dreaming. He could see her face split into a grin, and her pace quickened. Before he knew it, he was moving towards her, gathering speed, until she was in his arms in a tight embrace. He swung her around, and she giggled, wrapping her arms further around his neck.

Time seemed to stop as he felt her lips press against his for the first time in what felt like eons.

"Oh, I've missed you," she murmured, once they had broken apart, her arms still clasped tightly around his neck.

"It's been too long," Galen agreed, sighing as he thought about how long he had dreamed of seeing her again. Her presence in the Force comforted him, although something didn't quite feel…right. Like something was _off_. It couldn't be Juno; surely not? But when he stretched out through the Force, he felt fear and uncertainty radiating from her in waves.

He wanted to ask her what was wrong – he could feel her anguish and discomfort through the Force, and it wasn't hard to tell from her facial expressions, no matter how convincing she tried to make them. He suspected that her small talk was her way of stalling – she would probably tell him what was wrong in due course. Galen, being himself, however, wasn't willing to wait until due course – this was Juno Eclipse, the only person he would ever love, and if something was the matter then he needed to know.

"Juno," he began uncertainly, not sure as to where the conversation would lead, "You _would_ tell me if something was…wrong, wouldn't you?"

Juno blinked at him, her forced smile vanishing. She was holding on to his hand and he felt the pressure as she gave an involuntary squeeze. "I – of course, Galen. Why do you say that?"

"Because…" _Oh, this is hard._ "Because I can tell you're hiding something. Please, Juno, just tell me. I can't stand not knowing…there's something, isn't there?"

Adamantly, she shook her head. "Galen, i-it's nothing. I'm just tired, is all. It's been a hectic couple of months. And I was so worried about you! Leia said something about a mission gone awry in the Outer Rim?"

"Oh, that." Galen coughed, guiltily. "Yeah, that wasn't really authorised. But I'm fine, you don't need to worry about me."

"But I do!" she flared, standing up suddenly and beginning to pace. "I do worry about you, Galen. Over three months, and I didn't hear a thing about you from any of the radio chatter."

"It has been longer before," he reminded her, remembering a few years previously when he and Kota were away for a little over five months. Hell, in other words.

"Yes, but we could still _communicate –_ I still knew that you were _alive!"_ She turned to him, her gaze firm. Galen didn't know what to do.

"Juno, what-"

"Over three months, Galen. I heard rumours. And I know now that you're okay, because Leia told me, but for so long I didn't know…" She trailed off, halting her pacing and scuffing her boots on the duracrete floor of the hangar.

"I'm fine, Juno. Honestly." Galen still wasn't entirely sure where the conversation was leading, but hoped he was saying the right thing. He reached forward, using the pause in Juno's rant to take her hands and pull her towards him. Her blue eyes met his, and the hint of a smile softened her features slightly.

"I know you are. I just-" She broke off, shaking her head, stroking the side of his face absently. Galen closed his eyes and placed his hands gently on her waist.

"I've missed you," he offered simply, not knowing what else to say.

"Oh, stang," Juno sighed, the sad smile that appeared at least genuine. "Me too."

They embraced again, Galen holding her close and hiding his own certainty. She was deflecting, and she was an expert at it. With anyone else he would be annoyed; with Juno, he was concerned. But press any more and she would shut down even further. And after three months apart, that was the last thing he wanted.

She sighed, and yawned, signalling a change of subject. "Kriff, I'm tired. Don't suppose you know the way to a cabin?"

"A cabin?"

"Preferably with a bed. You're welcome to join me." This was Juno: wise-cracking and sarcastic. Part of him knew that she resorted to humour occasionally to avoid personal questions, but that was okay; he was prone to deflecting just as much as she was. He pulled her close, and she kissed him urgently, hungrily, a welcome escape from the outside world.

"I would love to show you – oh." Both Juno and Galen's comlinks were flashing, buzzing irritably at them. Galen looked at his and was tempted to crush it in his hands, but decided against it. His previous comlink had met a similar fate, and he suspected the Alliance was tired of replacing comlinks damaged through his own personal anger management issues. He snapped it shut, deciding instead to ignore it.

"Yes?" Juno was listening through to her link. "Yes, okay. We'll be right there. Yes, Galen is with me. I'll tell him. Juno out." As she hung up, she rolled her eyes at him. "Urgent meeting. Thirty minutes. Leia wants us both there."

"Both of us? But we're not…I mean, we're on separate assignments," said Galen, frowning. Juno shook her head.

"Not any more. We've been officially reassigned, as of two minutes ago."

* * *

Twenty minutes and one change of clothes later, Juno was making her way cautiously towards what she hoped was the correct conference room. The trouble with Echo Base, she had discovered quickly, was that all of the corridors looked the same. She hadn't really had much time for an orientation tour before all of the action kicked off.

Juno tried not to think about Galen's face when she had lied to him; he _knew_ something was up, she could tell. It just wasn't the right time.

She was also now sincerely regretting telling Galen that she would meet him there; her quest to find suitable winter clothing had been successful, but now she wasn't entirely sure if she was heading in the right direction. Passing several Rebel workers, she tried to stop them and ask for directions, but they all seemed to be busy, apologising and hurrying off.

"Excuse me," she said, noticing a figure coming out of a room a little further ahead, and appearing to be heading the same way as her, "I don't suppose you could tell me the way to Conference Room 11B?"

"Heading that way myself, actually," the figure said, turning to face her. A tall, human male with light coloured hair and a neat beard; he looked vaguely familiar to Juno, but she couldn't quite place him.

"Thank goodness," she said, "I've just arrived, so…"

"Everything looks the same?" finished the man, grinning. Juno felt the corners of her mouth twitching.

"Something like that. So, how much further…?" she gestured, as they walked along the corridor.

"Not far. Just along here, and then to the left," he replied, waving his arm vaguely. "The name's Starter, by the way. I'm a pilot in the Alliance Starfighter Corps."

 _Starter._ It certainly rang a bell. "Juno Eclipse," she replied cautiously, "Officer in the Alliance Fleet. I take it we've been assigned to the same operation, then?"

Starter looked suddenly confused. "I – yes, I suppose so- Juno Eclipse? Are you _sure?_ Because I knew a Juno Eclipse, once, and she wouldn't have joined the Rebels in a million years."

Now Juno remembered. Starter had been a cadet at the same time as she had; a few years older, perhaps, but then everyone had been a few years older than Juno when she started at the Academy. They were friends, briefly, and he had kept away most of the bullies – until he was expelled for poor conduct and general disregard for the rules. She had never known his full name.

"The same one," she said, raising an eyebrow. "I remember you, now. Corulag. You were expelled from the Imperial Academy, correct?"

Starter nodded, a smug smile forming. "Yeah. I knew the Empire wasn't the right path for me, anyway. But - _Juno?_ Last time I saw you, you were some fifteen-year-old kid at the top of her class, a stickler for all that bantha fodder the Empire threw at us. What happened to you?"

Juno swallowed. The truth, of course, was that she graduated at the top of her class, and commanded, for a time, one of the Empire's deadliest fighter squadrons. Which indirectly led to the biological destruction of an entire planet. But the truth was not something she would be willing to share – at least not like this. Her past with the Empire wasn't exactly a secret within the Rebellion, but it wasn't something she liked to broadcast on a daily basis. Let them judge who she was now, as opposed to the Juno Eclipse of several years previously.

Instead, she waved a vague, gloved hand.

"Oh, you know. Graduated, flew a few runs for the Empire before they decided I didn't have the right mindset for them. Got out fairly quick before they could do anything bad. Same old, really," she smiled. It wasn't _technically_ a lie, anyway. The man she knew as 'Starter' nodded.

"Fair enough," he said, "Glad to hear you got out in time, anyway. I always knew you had a smart head on your shoulders."

Juno nodded uncomfortably, unsure of how to respond. However, she was spared the stress as Starter spent the rest of the time talking about how well he'd done since leaving the Empire ( _kicked out_ , _actually_ , thought Juno), and generally boosting what appeared to be a considerable ego. They reached the conference room, and Starter held the door open for her as she entered.

At the head of the room, there was a large holo-map, showing a planet that Juno couldn't make out. There was about seven or so other people in the room already, a variety of species sitting around in chairs hastily drawn up for the purposes of the meeting.

Galen – naturally – was sitting by himself, spare seats on either side of him. Juno thanked Starter for showing her the way, and then watched as he slid into a seat next to a bored-looking Sullustan and engaged the poor alien in conversation.

"Find this place okay?" he asked quietly, turning his head to look at her in a way that suggested he was asking more about how she was than her aptitude for directions. Juno nodded mutely, not wanting to face his concern for a second time that day.

Instead, she found his hand and squeezed it, silently letting him know that she was okay. Or at least, she would be. When she could finally muster up the courage to tell him.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Princess Leia entering the room, followed by the last few people shuffling in and taking their seats. Leia moved to the holo-map, and keyed in a few directions. The general babble had died down, and everyone waited patiently for the princess to begin.

"I suppose you're all wondering why you have been called to this meeting," she began, looking around at them all, regal as ever. Juno admired the way the Princess handled leadership – Leia was younger than her by several years, but somehow managed to keep everyone in line, and earn the respect of the many Rebel fighters. She did especially well, considering the way leadership was thrust upon the young woman, with the destruction of Alderaan and the death of her father.

"To tell the truth," Leia continued, "This is a mission we are all going to have to take risks on. The people you see next to you are going to be your teammates for the next few months – you will have to trust each other implicitly, or the mission will already be a failure.

"You are being sent to Corulag, one of the central Core Worlds held in the Empire's grip. It was one of the earliest supporters of the Galactic Empire, and its population is still incredibly loyal to the Emperor. We have been contacted by a rebel cell located in the planet's capital city, Curamelle, asking for our assistance to overthrow the government. Ahsoka Tano and Rahm Kota will be heading up this team when you land on Corulag."

There was a sharp intake of breath by everyone in the room; certainly, no one had been expecting that. _Take down the – government? Of Corulag, one of the staunchest supporters of the Empire?_

Juno felt a sharp jolt at the mention of her homeworld. Well, former homeworld. It had been years since she had left there, and hadn't expected to return so soon, if at all. There were many memories associated with the planet, and most of them weren't pleasant to recall.

"With all due respect, Your Highness, the government on Corulag _is_ the Empire. That's not exactly an easy thing to 'overthrow', as you put it." The Sullustan female sat next to Starter spoke up, shaking her head apprehensively.

"And even if we do, well, _take them down_ , the Empire will just send a couple dozen Star Destroyers to descend on the planet, and everything will be as normal within a few days," added another, and a chorus of agreement was murmured around the room. Leia nodded, looking a little tired.

"Yes, the Alliance realises that. The request we received was for that nature, but we are not going to respond to it as such. This is still a fairly primitive rebel cell – we need to teach them that there are other ways to fight the Empire. They have only seen oppression in the local form; we have seen it galaxy-wide.

"So, we _are_ going to help them. We're going to infiltrate the Empire from the inside, steal its dirty secrets and turn them inside out so they have no-where to hide." The princess paused, her face reddening at her emotive language. She coughed softly and composed herself. "But we're not going to be destroying anything as such, not yet. This is more a reconnaissance mission, if you will. Corulag is seen as a 'model example' of Imperial behaviour. We need to get inside that, and to see what we're up against."

Leia paused, then, looking around at the odd group of Alliance soldiers. No-one said a word, although Juno suspected that may have been due to general speechlessness rather than a lack of protest. She raised a hand, a question niggling at the back of her mind.

"What happens when we've gathered the intel? Do we just up and leave, or will the Alliance come and give us a hand?"

She was worried about what the Alliance was planning with Corulag – she may not have enjoyed her time there, but it was still where she was born and grew up, and that meant _something_ , at least. She certainly didn't want to see it reduced to ashes on her watch – she didn't think she could live with that, especially after Callos.

She also didn't miss Leia's hesitation.

"So far, all of you here are the only ones assigned to this mission. There's still a lot of details to be worked out, but as of right now…"

"It's just us, on our own, in the middle of an Imperial-controlled planet," interrupted Galen, one eyebrow raised in scepticism. Juno smirked, wondering how he had managed to stay silent for so long. Leia sighed.

"Well, yes. Like I said, there's a lot of things still to be worked out. Your task for the next few months will be to gather as much intelligence as you can before you get there – you will, of course, be going undercover, which will involve requisitioning fake identities, amongst other things. The full list will be sent to all of your datapads, and you can take it from there. The Alliance will provide you with more information as and when it is pertinent."

Juno felt Galen bristle, and squeezed his hand warningly before he said something he may regret later.

"'As and when it is pertinent'?" he said, frowning. "What does the Rebellion not want us to know?"

"The information is highly classified," replied Leia, her lips in a thin line, "I'm not at liberty to tell you everything right now. Which…" she paused, sighing, "…wasn't my choice. But rules are rules, I'm afraid."

"So is that all we're getting just now?" piped up the Sullustan in the corner of the room, "Basically, we're being sent on a mission to Corulag, _in the centre of Imperial space_ , to help out some ragtag bunch of rebels. But not blow stuff up. Just _help_ them. Whatever that means, yeah?"

The princess nodded. "As far as I know, yes. Although…" she hesitated again, and tapped out a few things on her datapad, "…the Alliance has asked me to tell you that this mission is top-secret. No-one outside of this room should know the true nature of this mission. In short, this objective we are pursuing is highly dangerous, and if you are discovered by Imperials, the Alliance has no choice but to deny involvement."

Juno's eyebrows shot up, and found herself unable to speak. There was a murmur across the room – _The Rebellion? Deny involvement? That's not very – That doesn't seem fair! Doing their dirty work – no credit –_ and she noted the atmosphere had turned very frosty, very quickly. Leia seemed to have noticed that as well, and held up a hand for silence.

"I know what you're all thinking," she said, and Juno could hear the girl trained by the High Alderaanian court, "But the Alliance is not going to abandon you. This mission is strictly under-the-radar, so to speak, but you are still soldiers of the Rebellion, and you can be sure the Rebellion does not leave anyone behind. Besides," she allowed herself a smile, "We're quite certain you are not going to get caught. You've all been chosen especially to be here, so your competence is not an issue."

 _Your competence is not an issue_. Juno disagreed. Quite soon, the time would come when she would no longer be able to perform her duties – surely, her competence would be an issue then? Galen glanced at her, perhaps sensing her discomfort through the Force. She shot him a glare back. _Not now._ He nodded once, and they turned their attention back to Leia, who was now rounding up the meeting and drawing it to a close.

"…So, you will see the Alliance requisitions officer tomorrow to get started with your new identities, and we'll continue it from there. In the meantime, you are dismissed. I suggest that you all introduce yourselves to each other, as you will be working together for a reasonable amount of time."

With that, she shut down the holo-display and made to exit the room. She stopped briefly by Juno, and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I would stay longer to chat," Leia said, sighing, "But I've been called to another emergency meeting with the rest of the leaders."

"I understand," Juno replied, "I see how democracy can get a little tiring. You're doing well."

"Ugh. Tell me about it." The young princess smiled, and bid her farewell. "It was nice talking to you, Captain. We'll have to have a proper catch-up soon."

"I'd like that," said Juno, glad to have a friend in Leia. The princess spent a few moments talking to some of the others, Kota and Ahsoka included, before making her exit.

After what seemed like an eternity of awkward mingling, Juno was introduced to the people who would be part of their team for the next few months. She already knew Ahsoka Tano, from when the Togruta was briefly assigned to the _Salvation II_ a few years back. The former Jedi cast an intimidating presence in the room; she held the air of someone who had seen too much too young. _A little like Galen_ , Juno mused.

Kota was there too, looking unimpressed at having to socialise. He pulled her into a gruff hug when he saw her, though, which Juno had not expected.

"You're getting soft, Kota," she jibed. The old man frowned, and shrugged.

"It's old age," he muttered, "Don't tell anyone."

Juno laughed. "I won't tell a soul," she said, smiling.

Kota nodded over to where Galen was standing, having somehow found himself deep in conversation with a rather enthusiastic Mon Calamari cadet. He caught Juno's eye briefly, and made a slight 'I-have-no-idea' shrugging motion before returning to the conversation.

"I think the boy is trapped," said Kota, smirking.

"I think so too," agreed Juno, trying hard not to laugh.

The angry Sullustan from earlier came over and introduced herself as Neve, a starship engineer. Juno was impressed by her credentials – the woman had fought many battles for the local resistance on her home planet before joining up as an engineer. Her "retirement", as she called it.

"That's Jesman," explained Neve, nodding to Galen's enthusiastic new friend. "He's an expert slicer and computer expert. He can be...intense, at times. But he's a good kid."

"Kid? How old is he?" Juno asked, concerned. Neve shrugged.

"Old enough to join the cause and fight. He can aim and shoot a blaster, if that's what you're asking. Never too young to start 'em, I always say."

"Er...right," said Juno, her worries not abated by Neve's casual attitude.

"Anyways," said Neve, as if she had not heard Juno, "I have ships to repair, if no-one needs me right now. We're gonna have a hell of a lot of work on our hands in the next few weeks."

"That we are," replied Juno, bidding her goodbye. _That we are._

Eventually, the rest of the team dissipated from the room – a wide array of names and faces for Juno to remember. Only Kota, Galen, and Juno were left: Galen still recovering from his encounter with Jesman.

"Made a new friend, I see?" she asked him, curiously.

"Something like that," said Galen, looking confused. "He was very interested in how the _Rogue Shadow_ 's computer systems integrated with the rest of the Alliance's systems. I told him I didn't really know, so he started theorising. And...well, he never stopped."

Kota snorted, and Galen glowered at him. Juno smiled, having missed the playful banter between the three of them. However, underneath the jokes she sensed Kota frowning at her curiously, unbeknownst to Galen. She shifted under his glare, and he looked away. Privately, she wondered what he could 'see'. Juno didn't know much about the Jedi, but she had worried that Force-users would be able to sense the changes within her. She suspected that Kota perhaps knew more than he let on.

The old Jedi gave a short cough. "Anyway," Kota said, "I'd better be off. Got some business to attend to. You two look like you need some time alone. I'll see you later." He loped off, leaving Galen and Juno alone together. Galen shook his head.

"Subtle as a rancor in a tapcaf," he muttered. Juno didn't miss the slight smile that appeared on his face, though. She felt the same.

"You're quite fond of him, aren't you?" she smiled, looping an arm through his. Galen shrugged.

"I'm used to having him around. Is that the same thing?"

"Ah. You'd miss him, though."

Galen seemed to contemplate that for a moment. "Yeah. I guess I would."

He frowned, then, and turned to look at her more closely. "So, how do you feel about this mission? It certainly seems a change of pace to what we're used to."

"By 'change of pace', do you mean 'easy'? Because I suspect it'll be more difficult than we think." Juno raised an eyebrow at him.

"No! Well...maybe. A little." He shrugged, looking sheepish. "Perhaps I've just grown accustomed to blowing things up and wreaking havoc."

"Sounds like our first date," grinned Juno. Galen looked indignant.

"Our first d– okay, that bar fight was actually not my fault, for the record. And there was no explosions that time."

"We jumped through a window, Galen."

"Technicalities, Juno."

She smiled and shook her head, her heart feeling a little lighter than it had that morning. For a moment, she could forget about her burdens and secrets she was supposed to tell. It was just her, and Galen, alone for the first time in months.

Stifling a yawn, she leant her head on his shoulder as they made their way back through the chilly corridors.

"Tired?" asked Galen, obviously sensing her thoughts. Juno nodded, seeing no point in denying it.

"You could say that. With everything happening so fast, I don't think I've actually been assigned a cabin, but-"

"Juno." Galen cut across her, raising an eyebrow. "Um. I mean, my cabin is small, but we should be fine. They...they won't mind us sharing, I'm sure…if you don't mind?"

She stopped walking, suddenly, and looked at him. His face was earnest, and she felt her heart tug in her chest. Nodding, she pulled him into a tight embrace, right in the middle of the corridor. For some reason, his words affected her more than she intended. Probably hormones. _Damn it_. She hoped she wasn't going to cry. Thankfully, Galen said nothing, and said nothing as he stroked her hair gently.

 _As if he needed to_ ask _if I wanted to,_ she thought, a grin forming on her otherwise serious features. _I'm his, whatever that means._

Eventually, Galen broke away from their embrace, instead offering her his arm. "Come on," he said, "You look like you need rest. I'll show you the way."

As her eyes kept threatening to close, Juno wasn't really in any position to refuse, so she hooked her arm around his again and together they walked through the base, not saying anything, but not particularly needing to, either. They still had many things to discuss, not least the big secret hanging over Juno's head, and the upcoming mission, but right now, everything could wait.

* * *

Cipher watched the pair continue their way up the corridor, taking note. They – Cipher – had studied the Rebels closely throughout Princess Leia's meeting, but it was the agent they called Starkiller and his partner Juno that interested them the most. As per the Emperor's orders, of course.

It was evident that Juno was withholding something from Starkiller; that much was obvious. Cipher smiled to themselves. Evidently, this was something that could be exploited – even more so since they had wrangled themselves a place on Leia's expedition. Trust, Cipher noted, was something that had to be earned, but it was something that they had earned in abundance amongst the Rebel Alliance. It was only a shame that the Alliance leaders would never find out who was feeding their precious secrets to the Empire.

Cipher was confident that their cover would not be blown, even in such close quarters as Echo Base. Their documents were impeccably backed up three times over with falsified records in nine different systems – there was no evidence that would incriminate Cipher in anyway. There was a reason that Cipher was one of the Empire's best agents, why the Emperor had personally requested them for this mission. They got the job done, pure and simple.

Cipher decided to do some more digging. Perhaps they would be able to find out what secrets Juno knew. It would provide some helpful ammunition against Starkiller, if they wanted to get him over to the side of the Empire. Although Starkiller claimed not to follow the path of the 'dark side', as the Emperor called it, even Cipher – a non-Force-user – could see that there was still darkness within him. And with the right amount of pressure, Cipher was sure that Starkiller could be turned.

Checking that the coast was clear, Cipher allowed themselves a small smile, before straightening their Rebel uniform and heading back out into the base.


	5. The Unknown

**A/N:** Me again! This is a shorter chapter, but I promise the coming chapters are a better length. I just couldn't find any other way to fit this in. As always, your comments mean a lot to me! I own nothing except the plot :)

* * *

 **5 – The Unknown**

"Your Highness. It's good to see you. I trust you have much to report?"

The blue holo-images of Mon Mothma and her advisors crackled into life in the deserted conference room. Leia bowed her head.

"Yes, Senator. I've sent a report of the base's progress to your office. It is proceeding quicker than expecting, and the base should be fully completed in less than a month."

"That's excellent news," nodded the Senator, "And what about your personal mission? You've recruited people for the Corulag assignment?"

"I have. The Jedi, Rahm Kota and Ahsoka Tano, will be at the head of the group, along with the agent Starkiller and Captain Juno Eclipse, amongst others." She listed the rest of the group, and Mon Mothma nodded again.

"A strong team," she said, "I hope they have the ability to see it through to the end."

"Oh, they do," replied Leia, "I will make sure of that." She trusted everyone she had picked explicitly – she only hoped they would live up to her expectations, just as she was expected to live up to her father's legacy.

Mon Mothma was looking at the datapad on her desk, presumably scrolling through the dossiers that Leia had sent over.

"Captain Juno Eclipse – of the _Salvation II,_ correct?" When Leia nodded her affirmative, she continued, "I'm concerned that taking her out of her command may affect the performance of that particular attack team."

"Captain Eclipse and I were aware of the risks – however, she assures me that her former second-in-command is more than capable of the role. I trust her implicitly."

"It says here..." Mon Mothma glanced again at her datapad, "...that Captain Eclipse was not due to join us until the completion of Echo Base, but this was then changed last-minute. Can you explain why, Your Highness?"

"Senator Mothma," began Leia, feeling a twinge of uncertainty crawl up her spine, "I do not believe that I need to explain myself when making decisions on behalf of the Rebellion."

Mon Mothma frowned, and Leia almost felt like a teenager at the Imperial Palace again, under the scrutiny of her many aunts.

"You must see that this is not some 'between friends' secret you are allowed to keep. We cannot have any secrets within our ranks – everything we discuss is above board, do you understand?"

 _Except the mission details that I'm sending my team on,_ thought Leia, but she said nothing.

"Of course, Senator. But I am truthful when I say that I have shared all the information relevant to the mission with you. Captain Eclipse was transferred early simply because the rest of the group were already assigned to the Hoth base and I saw no reason to wait."

It was not a lie, exactly. Leia was just...omitting certain truths from the conversation. She knew it was wrong, that she had a duty to the Rebel Alliance and should be upfront about everything, but...well, Juno was her friend. A friend who had helped both her and her father out on numerous occasions. A friend whom the Rebel Alliance could not afford to lose, at any rate.

Mon Mothma's holo form frowned slightly at Leia's words, but otherwise nodded.

"Very well. I take it that you are moving the mission forward then, due to Captain Eclipse's arrival?"

"Yes. We aim to be ready shortly after the completion of Echo Base. I will stay here as a point of contact within the Alliance, but I will guide them on their exploits on Corulag."

"You seem to have the situation under control then, Your Highness. I shall leave you to your duties."

"Farewell, Senator Mothma." Leia bowed her head, and the blue holo-images faded away with a crackle.

Leia sighed, and sat down heavily on the nearest chair, massaging her temples. It had been a long day, and leadership was much harder than she thought it would be. It would have been so much easier if her father were still alive – she could always ask him for assistance. She was sure he would have sympathised with Juno, too. The Captain _had_ helped to save his life on two occasions, and they had worked together on many others.

There was a knock at the door, and it slid open. Leia jumped, roused from her daydream.

"Mistress Leia! I have been looking for you. I have received an urgent report from-"

"Threepio." Leia held a hand up, silencing the droid. "Can it wait until tomorrow? I was just about to retire to my quarters."

"Oh." If droids could look offended, See-Threepio certainly did. "Yes, of course. In the meantime, you might be interested to hear that Master Luke has broken the base's record for flying to the transmitter station and back in under twenty standard minutes."

"The base record – _what?_ I had no idea we even had a base record for that kind of – I am having _words_ with that boy tomorrow..."

She spent the rest of the walk back to her quarters muttering to herself, C-3PO helpfully supplying her with gossip from the base that he'd picked up.

"...And, of course, I did notice that Captain Eclipse, formerly of the _Salvation II,_ had not been assigned living quarters. However, R2 informed me that he noted two life-forms fitting their description walking together in the direction of Agent Starkiller's quarters-"

Leia closed her eyes. "Threepio - too much information. The living arrangements of Rebel soldiers are not yours to pry into."

They had reached Leia's quarters now, and she keyed in the passcode so that the door slid open.

"I apologise, Your Highness," said the droid. "I bid you goodnight, then. Do you want the urgent messages relayed to your datapad?"

"That will be fine, Threepio. Thank you."

With that, the droid wandered off and Leia collapsed onto her bunk. She was exhausted, and she knew the coming weeks wouldn't get any easier or less tiring. Still, she was part of the Rebellion. And she had a job to do.

* * *

 _He was walking through a deserted city. The streets were clean and the sun was in the sky, bathing the pavements in a golden light. Galen continued walking, past empty shops and parks and office buildings. It was...nice. He felt relaxed._

 _In the distance, he could see a forest. Just out of reach. His curious dream-state wondered what lay within the forest. It felt like he had been walking for hours, but the forest was still in the same place. He broke into a run, to see if the forest would appear any closer. The sun was setting; he was running out of time. He felt his muscles straining, perspiration on his forehead. The forest was still out of reach._

 _As the sun set, the air grew cold, and the once-pleasant light turned from gold to red. The buildings still loomed high above him. Galen stopped running, and looked behind him. He suddenly wished he hadn't. The buildings that had once looked so clean and serene were burning, flames spewing out of every window. He turned back and closed his eyes._

 _The city had been silent up until now, but Galen started to hear voices. Quiet, at first. He thought he heard Juno, and then Kota, but he couldn't hear what they were saying. Or understand. Then, he heard other noises. Some of them sounded like the Jedi he'd killed, some from a forgotten place in his memory. In the midst of it all, he thought he heard a child. Perhaps it was his voice as a child, but he couldn't remember any more. They were getting louder, and the forest wasn't any closer. He began to run again, but the once-clean streets were now cracked and twisted, blackened by the absence of the sun. He tripped and fell, not onto the pavement but down one of the widening cracks, down, down, down..._

Galen jolted awake, his chest rising and falling rapidly. He hadn't had a dream as vivid as that in a long time. Holding up his hands in front of him in the darkness, he found that he was shaking. He had never been a heavy sleeper, so it was unsurprising that he found himself waking suddenly in the middle of the night. What bothered him, however, was the dreams that had tormented him this time – whilst nightmares were a fairly regular occurrence for him, he couldn't quite put his finger on this one; but it felt different, somehow. It had the same, hard feeling of truth that his Force visions had in the past – and they were hard to ignore.

He shook his head groggily, as if to visibly shake off the memories, and sat up, noticing that something seemed off with the room. Looking over, he noticed that the space next to him was empty – _Juno._ He needn't have worried, however, as she was sitting hunched on the small desk chair in the corner, reading something on her datapad. The blue light from the datapad illuminated her face in the dark room, and he noted the dark circles under her eyes. _She's been working too hard,_ he thought, _as usual._

"Galen! Are – are you alright?" When he'd sat up, she had closed down her datapad and sat down on the bed next to him, a concerned expression on her face.

"I, uh... I think so? Just – just another dream." He waved a hand vaguely, trying to ignore the creeping fear that lingered at the back of his mind.

"Tell me." Juno lay down next to him and leaned into his side. Coaxing him to lie down again, she rested a hand on his chest, stilling his rapid breathing. He swallowed, closing his eyes.

Juno said nothing whilst he recounted his nightmare to her, her presence being enough to help him through. When he finished speaking, she reached up to stroke his face, her expression sad.

"You've been having a lot of these dreams, haven't you?"

Galen saw no reason to lie, so nodded once. "Yes. This one was the worst, but I get dreams...a lot," he sighed, tucking a strand of hair behind her ears. "It just felt...it felt like my visions in the Force, back before the first Death Star – do you remember?"

Juno smiled, briefly. "You started levitating my tools in the cockpit."

"Yeah, that time. What I saw then...came true. But I understood it, it made sense, I could act on it. I don't understand this dream. I can't...I feel helpless."

He looked away from Juno, still ashamed – even after so many years – to show so much emotion in front of her. She put a hand under his chin and turned his head to face her again.

"Hey," she said, gently, "Galen, you are the strongest person I know. And I don't mean physically, with the lightsabers and combat, I mean up _here_." She tapped his forehead gently, and he playfully tried to bat her fingers away. That brought a smile to both their faces, at least.

"If the Force is trying to tell you something, then maybe you need to wait it out and let it fully unravel itself. I'm sure the right answer will come to you in time."

"So just...wait and see?" he frowned, "For how long? What if – what if something happens and it's too late?" He had the niggling feeling that his dream was referring to Juno, but he couldn't say how. He didn't mention this to her.

Juno knitted her eyebrows. "Galen, you can't always save everything and everyone. You must know that by now. Stop trying to atone for your past, and think about the future for once." Her words were harsh, but he could hear the softness in them.

"You're right. I should – I need to stop thinking so much. Overanalysing won't help anyone." He sighed. "I'll talk to Kota tomorrow. He might know what to do."

"That's a good idea." Juno's voice was muffled by her face now leaning in to his side. "Kota really cares for you, you know." Her voice sounded drowsier than it had at the start of their conversation.

"Hm," muttered Galen, the corners of his lips twitching, "Well, he's alright. Not bad company sometimes. Much like someone else I know."

If he had been expecting a response to this, he didn't receive one, because Juno was now fast asleep in his arms. Galen smiled, and pressed a kiss to her forehead. He shifted slightly, further on to his pillow, and closed his eyes – content that, for at least the rest of the night, he wouldn't have any bad dreams. Sometimes, he truly did not know what he would do without her.

* * *

Juno waited for Galen's breathing to slow and become regular before opening her eyes again. Shifting her position slightly, she looked over at his sleeping face. He looked remarkably peaceful, despite his nightmares. Juno wished she had the same certainty.

She certainly wasn't going to tell him the real reason she had been awake; her datapad, abandoned on the desk, had the article on nausea highlighted, and for good reason. The sickness hadn't been as bad as it had a few weeks previously – she suspected that this might be the tail end of it, which lessened her dread, slightly – but it was still unnerving.

Galen twitched in his sleep, and Juno froze, but he merely muttered something unintelligible and rolled over. She wanted to smile, but she could feel a familiar nauseous sensation building. Slipping out of their bunk, she rushed to the refresher and managed to close the door just in time to fall to her knees, retching.

When she had finally finished throwing up, she washed her face with cold water and looked at her reflection in the mirror. She looked gaunt, and paler than she had ever seen. She blinked a few times, and was surprised to see tears clouding her vision.

Her ideals of motherhood were all very well when she wasn't faced with nausea and an expanding stomach. Now that she was here, on Hoth, with Galen, all of her previous thoughts felt naïve and almost invalid. What the hell were they going to do when the baby arrived? Leia was sending them away on a mission, one that wasn't supposed to be dangerous, but what happens when the mission was over? Would they just walk away from the Rebellion? _Could_ they just walk away from the Rebellion?

Tears ran freely down Juno's cheeks, and she scrubbed them away hurriedly. Galen wasn't a heavy sleeper; she was surprised he hadn't woken up again already. He must have played down how bad he had been sleeping lately; typical, Juno thought. Then again, wasn't she keeping bigger secrets? It was almost as if she loved him too much to tell him. Which was silly, she _knew_ that. She had come close several times that day to spilling her secret, but had backed out every time.

Why couldn't she tell him? Juno herself didn't know. Part of her wanted to protect Galen from unfortunate truths; hadn't he suffered enough already? But part of her, she suspected, deep down, wanted to protect herself: if he reacted badly, it wouldn't be her fault. If he didn't know...

She didn't finish the thought, because it was too dark – even for Juno.

"Pull yourself together, Eclipse," she muttered, glaring at her reflection again. Sometimes, there was no-one to look out for her except her. And thinking those thoughts wasn't going to help anybody.

She tip-toed out of the refresher and slid mercifully back into the warm bunk – the temperature of Echo Base tended to run a little cold, to no-one's delight. Galen shifted a little in his sleep, but miraculously didn't wake. Or so she hoped. He'd had a hard enough time of it already – let him have a good night's sleep, she thought.

Galen's recurring dreams were another thing to add to her list – he'd always suffered from unnerving dreams, but she had thought that his growing distance from Vader over the past four years had allowed them to fade. She knew him well enough that he wouldn't have told her a thing unless they were _really_ worrying him. And she also knew enough about Galen, and the Force, to tell that those dreams usually meant something significant. Juno hoped Kota would be able to help him understand – whilst her and Galen knew each other intimately, Juno wasn't strong in the Force, and that was what Galen needed.

Exhaling softly, she shuffled closer to him and slipped a tentative arm around his waist. Resting her head on the back of his shoulder, she let the sound of his heartbeat lull her to sleep, for good this time. She was just going to have to see what the coming weeks brought them both. Hopefully they could weather it together. If not...well, no-one particularly wanted to think about that.

* * *

 _End note_ : It might be a little while before the next update, so I apologise in advance! Writing has slowed down a bit since I started back at university, but I'll update as and when I can! I am as excited as you guys are to be on this ~journey~ with you, as cheesy as that sounds. Writing is hard, but I really wanted this story to happen, so here we are! x


	6. Crystal Visions

**A/N:** due to a mistake on my part, I uploaded this to AO3 two days ago and forgot to upload it here! my bad, so sorry!

But yeess, we finally see Ahsoka! Spoilers ahead, therefore, for the first season of Star Wars Rebels (I tried to kinda merge the canon a little bit) but I wrote the first draft of this chapter before the finale of Season 2, so I'm just (kinda) presuming that Everything is Fine?

Anyway, I tried to put in a lot of character development and stuff in this chapter so I hope you enjoy! Banter & dialogue scenes are my favourite to write :)

* * *

 **6 – Crystal Visions**

"Boy."

"Kota – I, uh, need to speak to you. Privately." Galen eyed the crowded hangar. Their team had been getting to work, fitting starfighters with fake transponder codes and making sure they would stand their ground in a firefight. Juno was overseeing the upgrades, holding several datapads and directing workers to their assigned ships. She didn't see him looking, and Galen took the opportunity to gaze, just a little bit longer.

Kota frowned, and motioned with his head in Juno's direction.

"Juno?"

Galen nodded. The Jedi ran a hand over his brow, and sighed.

"Over here, then."

They found a sheltered alcove in the hangar, some distance away from the rest of the workers. Kota folded his arms and fixed Galen with his blind glare.

"Well?"

"I need your help, Kota. I've been getting these – these visions. At least, I'm fairly certain they're visions of some sort. They seem too... _real_ , to close to home, to be dreams." He swallowed. "I – I don't know what to do with them.

Kota frowned. "Hmm. What did you see?"

Galen recounted his dreams, the one he'd had the previous night, and countless others that had only just started making sense. Once he had finished, Kota was scratching his chin thoughtfully.

"I would be wary," he said, "They could just be dreams, but coming from a powerful Force-user like you, I suspect it's something more. You say – you say you saw a city burning? Any particular landmarks or distinguishing features that we would recognise?"

"No," Galen shook his head. "No, there was nothing. Nothing that I would recognise, anyway."

"Pity," muttered Kota, "It could give us a clue on where the Empire is strengthening its grip. Or planning something horrible." The old man trailed off in thought for a moment, before snapping back to the present day. He fixed Galen with a shrewd glare.

"And you dreamed of Juno?" It wasn't really a question.

Galen nodded. "I wonder if she's in danger. Something has felt...different about her presence. I can't figure out what it is."

Kota frowned. "You haven't been able to sense if anything is wrong?"

Galen looked at Kota, alarmed. "No, I – why, what have you seen? Is there something I'm missing?"

"No – calm down, boy, we don't want to cause a scene." Kota hissed, gesturing to some nearby pilots clad in orange jumpsuits, glancing nervously in their direction.

"I haven't detected anything...wrong, in the Force, regarding Juno," continued Kota, "Although I'm sure she would tell you in time if anything was wrong, I don't know." The older man gave a gruff shrug.

Galen rolled his eyes. "Great, 'wait and see', then. That's what Juno suggested. It's not much to go on, Kota."

General Kota sighed. "I know, boy. But the Force is tricky to understand at the best of times, I can't pretend to know everything. And if something _is_ up with Juno, then it's not my place to find out."

As usual, the old Jedi was probably correct. The fact did not stop Galen from worrying – quite the opposite, actually – but he was, at least, reassured that he seemed to have time to figure out whatever was wrong.

He glanced over once again to where Juno was standing. She was wearing the same troubled expression as when he'd first met her off her ship, several days previously. He'd give a million credits to know what she was thinking. He was thoroughly enjoying being back with her, but he wondered what had happened in the time that they'd been apart.

"You're worried about her." Emotions were difficult at the best of times to hide from Kota, and today was no different.

"Yes." Galen braced himself for Kota's usual lecture, but it never came. The old man merely frowned pensively.

"Have you tried... _talking_ to her?"

"Have I tried t- yes, of course I have! She just deflected my questions, I-I didn't want to _force_ her to tell me anything." Galen folded his arms, staring at his boots. Kota exhaled loudly.

"Well, I don't know, boy. Matters such as...this..." He waved an arm, vaguely; clearly embarrassed, "...are not exactly my area of expertise."

" _That_ much is obvious," muttered Galen, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "But...thanks, Kota. I appreciate the advice."

"Hnmph. I should hope so."

Galen watched as the older Jedi loped away, presumably to do whatever Kota did in his spare time. Despite having worked together for the last four or so years, Rahm Kota was still an immensely private man, and a mystery to Galen. He was always willing to knock him down a peg or two, which Galen privately admitted that he needed sometimes. But behind the sarcastic façade, there was a deep-rooted anger which Galen had never been able to pinpoint. He wasn't the curious type, so he had never asked; the one time he had brought up the Clone Wars whilst on a mission, Kota had shut him down immediately and the subject had been dropped.

Galen wondered if he would ever fully understand the man. Instead, he shrugged, and clipped his lightsabers onto his belt – the _Rogue Shadow_ still had a functioning training room, and he liked to use it at least two or three times a week. On Hoth, there wasn't much need for his lightsaber, but he liked to keep himself in shape. That, at least, was something he _could_ fully comprehend.

Juno looked over at the working engineers with a small sense of pride. Coming from the Empire, she was nothing if not efficient. Leia had delegated to her the task of assigning the various different mechanics and engineers of the team – plus some others that had offered to help – to the assortment of ships they had at their disposal, to make sure they were all in top condition. The workers included as part of Leia's plan also had the extra mission of changing the transponder codes of each ship, so that they didn't come up on Imperial scanners as Rebel ships. Of course, with closer inspection into the records, each ship still could be vaguely identified as a Rebel vessel, if you took into account the make, model, and how up-to-date the Imperial's records were, but Juno calculated the risk would be minimised by at least 95.8% with false transponder codes.

Yes, she was nothing if not efficient.

"Excuse me," a voice came from behind her, "It's Captain Juno Eclipse, isn't it?"

Juno turned to see a red-skinned Togruta standing there. She nodded, a little flustered. Ahsoka Tano was, after all, somewhat of a legend amongst the Rebel Alliance. They had met, briefly, once before when Juno first took the helm of the _Salvation II._

"Yes," she replied, "Please, call me Juno."

Ahsoka nodded once. "I just came to see how we were getting on. Leia asked me to 'keep an eye' on everyone, but I felt a little bad sneaking around and spying on people. So, it's nice to meet you. It has been...some time since I last worked on a team as big as this."

She sounded a little sad, but didn't elaborate. Her features were smooth and impassive – Juno had only had the pleasure of meeting one other Jedi before, and Ahsoka was the exact opposite to Kota's gruffness.

"It takes some getting used to," Juno agreed, thinking back to when she had first taken command of the _Salvation_ all those years ago. From elite fighter squadrons and stealth missions to being at the helm of a massive freighter, it had been a bit of a culture shock.

"Well, it seems that you're doing a good job so far," the older woman said, smiling. Juno felt herself blushing.

"Thank you," she muttered, looking back at her datapad. Ahsoka raised an eyebrow.

"I mean it," she said, "These workers, they trust you. And you listen to them. It's what any good leader should have."

"Hmm," replied Juno, "I sometimes wonder if they do actually trust me. You know, ex-Empire and all that."

Ahsoka frowned. "Is this because you trained in the same Academy that the Rebels want to destroy, on Corulag?"

Juno shrugged. "Kind of. It's always bothered me, a little. To most, it seems I'll always be associated with the Empire."

"Maybe for some," assured Ahsoka, gently, "But I don't think the Alliance would put you in command if they didn't trust you. You gave an excellent speech about that at the inauguration ceremony of the original _Salvation_ , if I remember correctly."

Juno gave a short laugh. "I was so nervous. My hands were shaking so much, I felt like I was going to drop my notes." She paused for a moment, thinking back to that time. It didn't feel like over four years. She hadn't been in such a good place, back then.

Ahsoka appeared to notice her hesitation. "Things are better now, aren't they?"

Juno smiled tightly, unsure of where the conversation was heading. "Yes. I'm more confident now. I've got..." Her eyes flickered over to where Galen and Kota were having a conversation. He obviously didn't think she had noticed him gazing at her, but she had. She felt a sudden urge to be near him. "...people I can trust," she finished lamely. Ahsoka raised an eyebrow – or facial markings that essentially counted as eyebrows – and quirked a smile.

"Right," she said, drawing out the vowel. Juno detected a hint of sarcasm, and felt herself going red.

"Are we...that obvious?"

The Togruta shrugged. "Not to most. But – well, I used to be a Jedi. I'm used to noticing these things. Just..." A serious expression returned to the former Jedi's face. "...just be careful. You're going to have a lot to deal with in the coming months."

Juno nodded, uncertainly. "Er – thank you." She was about to ask Ahsoka to elaborate when her datapad bleeped at her, signalling an incoming message.

 _[Captain, something urgent has come up. Are you free later? I'll be in the mess hall._

 _\- Leia]_

"Trouble?" asked Ahsoka, eyeing the datapad. Juno nodded grimly.

"Sounds like it," she sighed. "I'll worry about it later. In the meantime, I really should be getting back to my duties. It was nice speaking with you." She shook hands with the Togruta before hurrying away, hoping no-one was watching as she walked over to the _Rogue Shadow._ She wondered, distantly, how much Ahsoka knew.

Ahsoka Tano watched the young Rebel captain disappear, a sad smile on her face. It hadn't been so long since she'd been that age, yet it felt like a hundred years since her time on the run after Order 66. They weren't memories she particularly enjoyed recalling.

She had been initially sceptical when Bail Organa had contacted her about a new 'Alliance to Restore the Republic', a few years back. She had kept a low profile after leaving Coruscant; she didn't need any more unnecessary drama, she'd told herself. It was only after a very close shave with the Empire on Malastare that Ahsoka finally decided to accept his offer. _An advisory position,_ he'd said. _Not a formal member of the Alliance._

Which had worked fine, for a time. She had been the point of contact for the young crew of the _Ghost_ , back when the Rebels were still very much a secret and not nearly as militaristic as they were today. She'd grown rather fond of the ragtag assortment of people aboard that ship. Personally, she preferred their methods to all of the space battles and the dogfights. Small teams, working in secret, on the ground? That was where the fight was. You could kill as many stormtroopers and Imperials as you liked, but at the end of the day, you needed to convince the rest of the galaxy that you didn't mean any harm. You needed to show the people that it was the _people_ they were fighting for, not ships or factories or power. Ahsoka knew her 14-year-old-Jedi self would have disagreed, but that was maturity for you. And the Clone Wars had brought maturity on very fast.

She sighed, picking up a spare datapad from a nearby crate and studying its contents. For an 'advisory' role, people – especially the Alliance higher-ups – did a very good job of _not_ taking her advice. No matter how many times she had brought up the subject of how the old teams used to work, Mon Mothma would shake her head, Bel Iblis would frown, and the subject would be closed. Still, the young Princess seemed to take everything she had said to heart, judging by her newest plan. Ahsoka suspected that it was the girl's influence and the fact that she was Organa's daughter that persuaded the others, but she digressed. Leia had spark, and the motivation to do what she thought was right for the _people_ , not just the Alliance bank account.

"I'm telling you, the inertial dampeners need looking at. I have the specs here, Galen. Just let me have a look."

Voices carried from the other side of the hangar, and Ahsoka – despite herself – found her curiosity piquing.

"You just want an excuse to tinker with the _Shadow_. They're fine, honestly. I checked them earlier."

"And who do you think was responsible for the _Shadow's_ retrofits? Who flew this ship every day for the best part of a year?"

"I...Oh, fine. If it's necessary. Do what you must. I'll be in the training room if you need me..."

Ahsoka tried to hide a smile as she watched the exchange. Juno had – very subtly, she'll give her that – headed over in the direction of the _Rogue Shadow_ , where the boy Marek had been leaning, arms folded. She had watched as his dark, closed expression brightened at the sight of Juno's approach. Her Force-enhanced hearing allowed her to hear bits of their conversation, although – to be honest – any idiot could work out what they were saying. Juno was brandishing a datapad at him, while he smiled on bemusedly. Despite the bickering nature of their conversation, it seemed good-natured. And from the little Ahsoka knew of Marek, he didn't smile very often.

It didn't mean she trusted him, though. She knew he was a potent Force-user, and although Kota had refused to tell her any more than that, she had the suspicion that his origins were less savoury than hers had been. Her mind flicked back to the many Inquisitors she had witnessed, the way they fought. She wondered if he had been the first of Vader's unusual brand of servant; an experiment gone horribly, horribly wrong. Whilst the Inquisitors she had fought used the Force like a tightly-reined whip, he used it like a sledgehammer, whirling and throwing and crushing his enemies. Granted, he was on their side, no doubt about that. No-one here hated Vader more than her except for Marek. But there was an unnerving power about him, a darkness that even Juno and the Rebels couldn't quite fight off.

It worried her. The fact that she could sense the child Juno was carrying worried her doubly, though. She knew from first-hand experience that the children of Force-users were naturally in serious danger, but Marek? He was one of the strongest Force-users she had ever met. What would his child be like? And, more importantly – how far would Vader go to use that child for his own means?

Ahsoka shook her head. She would keep a careful eye on the two of them. That was all she could do, for now. She certainly wasn't going to let Vader take another child, not ever.

It was later in the afternoon when Juno arrived in the mess hall, feeling harassed and rather tired. She had tried to escape earlier, but everyone seemed to want her attention. (Including one Galen Marek – they hadn't spent all that time apart just to ignore each other when they were together again.)

Sitting down at one of the long tables, she placed the stack of datapads she had accumulated in front of her, spreading them out so she could read them all. The mess hall was, thankfully, mostly empty, bar a few cadets and some engineers. She acknowledged them with a nod, and returned to her studies whilst she waited for Leia.

Her eyes focused on the words in front of her, but her mind kept drifting towards other matters. What could Leia want with her? She could only assume it would be to do with her precarious situation here at the base. People were bound to ask questions sooner or later, and Juno probably wouldn't be the best kind of message to send to the newer recruits.

She quietly fretted until she recognised Leia's droid, the blue-and-white one that had helped her and PROXY before, trundle happily through the doorway and make its way over to her. Its owner, Princess Leia herself, followed it not long after. Juno noted that she too looked a little hassled.

"Sorry for the confusion," Leia sighed, apologetically, "It's been a hectic couple of days." She sat down opposite Juno and closed her eyes for a moment, rubbing her temples.

"That it has," Juno agreed, feeling a pang of sympathy for the younger woman. She understood what it was like to be so young with so many responsibilities, but Leia had it worse than most.

The young princess tucked a strand of hair back into her elaborate hairstyle, and cleared her throat. "I received an unfortunate holo-call from Mon Mothma and the Alliance advisors last night," she said, lowering her voice so that the rowdy engineers on the other side of the hall wouldn't be able to eavesdrop.

Juno felt her spirits lower. "And..?"

Leia grimaced. "I didn't tell her anything, but she is definitely suspicious. You weren't supposed to be transferred until the _Salvation II_ was scheduled to go into dry dock..."

"...which is three months from now," Juno finished, nodding.

"Yes," said Leia, "When I heard from the _Salvation_ 's medic, I didn't want you to just be discharged and thrown to the rancor. I apologise if this has caused any problems for you, Juno. I...admit it was a rash decision on my part."

She looked troubled, and Juno tried not to feel even guiltier about putting Leia in this position. She felt way in over her head, and it scared her. This had been troubling Juno for a few days now, on top of everything else. Being at the helm of a ship or in the cockpit of a fighter was comfortable; heading up espionage missions was something else entirely. She couldn't back out, though – the Rebellion was her home now, and she went where she was needed.

But what about when she wasn't needed?

Juno had not voiced these concerns to Galen, considering that she was the sole reason he was even in the Rebellion at all. And probably the reason he was still here, still fighting. The Rebel Alliance was good for Galen, despite his protests against their lack of organisation, bureaucracy and 'general incompetence'. After the childhood he had, he needed some sort of stability in his life that wasn't the Empire.

And she needed – well, she didn't know. Being pregnant had shifted her world view very dramatically over the past few days.

Instead, she forced a smile.

"Oh, don't apologise, Leia. I'm the one who should be apologising, I've – I've put you in such a terrible position with the Alliance."

"Juno." Leia frowned at her. "You're a valuable member of the Rebellion. And the Rebellion needs to look after its people, despite what regulations say."

"I suppose you're right," said Juno. She took a deep breath. "I would offer my resignation, if that would make things any easier for you. I don't want to be a burden on the mission, or the Alliance, and I don't want to put the mission in jeopardy."

Leia was shaking her head vehemently at these words. "Juno, you would be putting more people in danger if you resigned now, and you know it." She saw the expression on Juno's face, and softened her tone.

"I'm not going to stop you from leaving. I just want you to know that you play a valuable part of this rebellion."

Bowing her head, Juno nodded. "That means a lot to me, Leia." She remembered days of feeling like another cog in the Imperial machine – disposable, replaceable. Those days were over now, at least, and she had a part to play here. At least – well, at least until she was at full term. Then she would have to think about things.

"Until the time comes to leave, I will not let you down," she promised.

"I understand," said Leia, "Would you be leaving for good, or...?"

The question hung in the air, anticipating. Uncertainty gnawed at Juno's insides.

"I don't know. I just...a warzone isn't the right place to raise a child, surely. That's what I had, and I wouldn't wish it on anyone. Galen, too." She sighed, rubbing the back of her neck. "I haven't told him this," she added, quietly.

Leia nodded, sombrely. "Don't worry. He won't hear anything from me."

"Thank you. I'll tell him when I'm ready. But not right now."

Both women exhaled deeply, the difficult part of the conversation over. Leia's comlink beeped at her, and she sighed.

"Duty calls?" asked Juno. Leia nodded, rolling her eyes.

"Yes, as always. I have to go and meet Luke and the rest of Rogue Squadron. Something about patrols." She stood up, stretching. "Look out for yourself, Juno."

"You too, Leia. It was nice speaking with you."

Leia nodded, smiling, and left the room, her blue droid trundling after her. Juno smiled at the droid's apparent personality, comparing it to PROXY's. She would much prefer that kind of droid to the obedient, emotionless ones that were produced after a memory wipe.

She wondered what kind of things R2-D2 had seen in its life to have such a vibrant personality.

Shaking her head, she got up from her seat at the table and joined the queue for food. Her stomach rumbled angrily, and she realised with a jolt that she hadn't eaten since the morning. Such eating patterns were barely acceptable as it is, she thought to herself. Even less so as a pregnant woman. Juno filled her plate with an extra helping to make up for it, thankful that they were serving one of her favourite foods that day.

"Hungry?"

Juno jumped as Galen sat down opposite her, also carrying a tray of food. She swallowed the mouthful of food she had been savouring, and grinned sheepishly.

"Starving," she replied, going for another mouthful. He shook his head at her, a half-smile forming.

"You're ridiculous," he muttered, "Have you even eaten at all today?"

She didn't answer because she just taken a full mouthful of food, but Galen seemed to get the gist of what she was gesturing.

"Have you?" she countered, once she had finished chewing. He shrugged, guiltily.

"Uh...I might've had something, uh, early this morning?" At her frown, he recoiled. "Okay, so we're both as bad. I guess this whole regular-day-cycle-thing is new to both of us."

Juno nodded in agreement, taking another mouthful. She wasn't sure exactly what the cooks put in it, but it tasted _wonderful_.

As the mess hall filled up, they found themselves joined by a couple of the other recruits from Leia's meeting. Juno remembered Neve, the engineer, and was introduced to Gipp, a Barabel weapons expert. The reptilian woman seemed to be familiar with the group already, as she recognised Galen with a friendly nod.

"This one owess you," hissed the reptilian Gipp, jabbing a talon in Galen's direction. "You are the one who fixssed the transmitter."

"Uh," Galen had gone a little red, "Yeah, me and – and General Kota..."

"Well, this one was expecting some important newss from my family, but no other Rebelss were _brave enough_ to go out in the storm and fixss it. This one would have done it, but this one is cold-blooded and would have frozen. This one regrets being assigned to Hoth, but that's another story." Gipp picked up a large piece of meat from her plate and swallowed it whole, chomping down with her many sets of teeth. "You have this one's thanks, Galen Marek."

Galen coughed, obviously embarrassed. Juno grinned.

"Is that true?"

"Yeah, it was – it was nothing. Just another day's work." He looked, in Juno's opinion, absolutely mortified – she wondered if he had ever been praised like that by anyone (barring herself and perhaps Kota and Leia). She was immensely proud, though. She nudged his leg gently with her boot, and their eyes made contact, briefly. His mouth twitched; he folded his arms defensively, but it was a million miles away from the cold, rude apprentice Juno had met five years previously.

Gipp grunted something that sounded close to acknowledgement, and continued chomping away at her food. Neve chuckled, and leant towards them.

"Don't worry," she whispered conspiratorially, "Gipp's like that all the time. It's not like she's sworn you a Wookiee life debt or anything."

Gipp glared at Neve. "This one can hear you. You are too loud, as alwayss."

The two continued to bicker – like an old married couple, Juno thought, and she distantly wondered if they were together – until Gipp narrowed her eyes at Juno.

"You," she said. "You are his mate?"

Juno was momentarily taken aback. "Uh...well, w-we, um..."

Neve clapped her hands together. "I _knew_ it! You owe me five credits, Gipp."

"You were taking _bets_ on whether Juno and I were - ?" Galen had his head in his hands, and now it was Juno's turn to go beetroot. Neve shrugged, casually.

"Eh. We knew you were sweet on somebody – I've been around this base long enough to know the look that comes on your face sometimes. When Captain Eclipse here showed up, well – easy enough to put two and two together."

"Right," said Galen, looking half-amused, and half-annoyed. Juno frowned.

"You won't...you know, tell anyone else, will you? I know it might be obvious, but it's not something we'd like to, um, broadcast everywhere." Juno glanced at Galen, who nodded in agreement.

Neve put her hands up. "Oh, don't worry about us! We won't tell a soul. Right, Gipp?"

"This one's lipss are sealed. If this one had lipss. Ssuch a funny human expresssion."

Juno smiled gratefully. She finished the rest of her meal in silence, listening to the stories Neve, Gipp, and some of the other recruits who had joined them, were swapping. It was nice to feel amongst equals again – whilst she was immensely proud of her crew aboard the _Salvation II,_ there was always a separation between captain and crewmember. This, though, felt more personal. It gave her a similar feeling of rapport that she used to get when in the Imperial Academy; the lessons may have been brutal and the morals dubious, but there was always a certain sense of togetherness amongst the cadets. _Perhaps_ , Juno thought wryly, _that's why the Empire works so well. It's the "we're-all-in-this-together" kind of feeling that keeps people motivated, and not question where the orders are coming from. Or why._

"Credit for your thoughts?" Galen had nudged her leg with his own boot. She shook herself out of her daydreams.

"You'd need more than just a credit, Marek," she joked, cracking a smile. He snorted, quietly, and Juno decided that laughter suited him.

"Fair enough, Eclipse," he said, chasing the last of his food around his plate with a fork and smiling privately. Juno envied his contentedness – he worried about his visions, but she could see how comfortable he appeared around her and the rest of the Rebels. She wished she could share her burden with him – after the previous night, she was still feeling a little shaken. But she wasn't ready to tell him, not yet. She suspected _he_ wasn't ready, either.

 _But will either of you ever be fully ready?_ The voice in the back of her mind whispered, sneakily. Juno didn't know. She pushed the thought away, and focused on finishing her food, tuning back in to the banter around the table.

 _Keep it together, Juno._

Cipher was worried. Not enough to contact their superiors for assistance, or extraction. But enough to add seven extra layers of security onto their datapad, and make sure all ingoing and outgoing transmissions to their comlink and datapad were (even more) heavily encrypted.

They had known that there would be Jedi on the team – Rebel scuttlebutt told them that, where Galen Marek went, General Rahm Kota would often follow, and vice versa. The Alliance favoured the pair because they often produced successful results, albeit with a little less finesse that would usually be expected from 'normal' spies and espionage experts. Rahm Kota was a powerful Jedi, but he was blind, and getting on in years. Galen Marek, admittedly, was extremely powerful, but lacked awareness of the galaxy around him, and was decidedly still very naïve.

Ahsoka Tano, on the other hand, was neither old nor naïve.

Cipher had heard, through rumours passed down through several different Imperial contacts, of Tano's exploits during the Clone Wars and thereafter. She had gone undercover after her departure from the Jedi Order, but had been easy enough to trace if you tried hard enough – and after the official birth of the Empire, she had all but disappeared from the records. Cipher had come across her name, once, on a different mission, and had found her story rather intriguing. Official Imperial records stated she was dead, along with the rest of the Jedi who had perished in Order 66. However, Cipher had noted the addendum on her file, giving a brief account of her trial and exile from the Jedi. Whilst she had not been convicted, she had nonetheless refused to re-join the Order. It was an interesting addition, suggesting, even at the time, that her story was not quite over.

It was only once Cipher had infiltrated the records of the Rebel Alliance that he had come across Tano again – this time disguised as 'Fulcrum'. Records were vague, but she had undoubtedly been behind many of the Alliance's victories. And now she was here, in person, on Echo Base. If anyone could sniff out treachery, it was her – and Cipher suspected, given her severed links to the Jedi, that she would not be merciful if she discovered Cipher's cover.

* * *

 _End note:_ I just wanted to say that for the majority of this fic so far I'd had a rough draft written for a while - but now we're coming to the end of what I'd spent two years procrastinating over, so updates may be a lot slower and less frequent from now on. I can only apologise, as this is a story I've been wanting to write and it's all mapped out in my head, just not on paper.

I am currently in the middle of the next chapter, but I do also have an essay longer than this chapter due soon, so uh...we'll see! But your comments and kudos make this worth writing, so i gotta thank everyone who's read, commented, etc.! you are all wonderful and i love you 3

I started out over 4 years ago on this site, so the support here on FFnet means a lot to me :)

in the meantime, i have 2 tumblrs - carrotycake for my art/writing blog and itsacuriousthing for multifandom/star wars/video game stuff. feel free to say hello! Or to ask me questions about this fic. Or just talk about star wars, really i'm cool with anything :D


	7. You Run, You Fight, You Lose

**Author's Note:** War is never far from any Rebel Base. (Or, we catch up with the events of The Empire Strikes Back.)  
/waves/ hi...it's me...i'm still here, i promise!

This chapter is dedicated to the late Carrie Fisher, may she rest in peace, flipping the bird to george lucas and anyone else who ever talked shit about her

* * *

 **7 - You run, you fight, you lose**

 _Echo Base, Hoth – Conference Room 15A_

Juno tapped her fingers anxiously against her thigh as she waited for the holocall to connect. The last few weeks had been busy, busier than her time on the _Salvation II_. Identities to forge, ships to fix. Paperwork to file. Pregnancies to hide.

Galen had started looking at her a little differently, she had noticed that much. Winter coats could only hide so much; whilst at the moment, she could attribute her slowly growing build to weight gain (the food on the base was actually rather good), it was only a matter of time before even Galen's naiveté would wear thin. She was running out of excuses, and fast.

"Juno," Leia had cornered her about a week previously, "You need to tell him."

She had nodded, guiltily. "I know. I haven't – I haven't found the right moment."

"You've been on this base for six weeks now! Next week, you'll fly to Corulag. Speaking as your friend – you have to tell him. You owe him the truth, at least."

The truth – _Galen, I'm pregnant, and I've been hiding it from you since the moment I arrived._ Juno hated to admit it, but she had definitely made it worse for herself. The price to pay for being a coward, she supposed.

She was snapped back to the present when the holo-terminal gave out a burst of static, causing everyone in the room to jump. Galen, sitting next to her, nudged her leg gently with his.

"You alright?"

Nodding, she smiled. "Yeah. Just got a fright, is all. Do you think it's the blizzard coming in that's causing the interference?"

Galen rolled his eyes. "Probably. Kota and I have fixed enough of those damn transmitters, but they keep breaking." He looked at her, strangely, but said nothing.

Juno returned her gaze back to the holo-terminal. They were waiting for a call from Mon Mothma, to go over final details before their departure, but a particularly large storm had just rolled in and was causing havoc across the base.

After some time – and various choice curse words from the transmission techs trying to fix the signal – they gave up on waiting for Mon Mothma's call. Instead, Leia stood at the head of the room, as she had done for the first time three weeks previously.

"This won't take too long," she said, "We're just making sure that everyone knows the plan. Ahsoka?"

The red-skinned Jedi stood up. "Thank you, Princess," she nodded once. "As you all know, Princess Leia will be our contact in the Fleet once we're on Corulag. General Kota and I will be the unofficial 'leaders' of this group, though we would welcome all thoughts and opinions as the mission progresses."

Juno looked over to Kota, who nodded, waving a hand in acknowledgement.

"We've made contact with the insurgents in Curamelle – they have provided us with landing codes and promised access to their hideout. We also traced the location of their transmission to an area in the south-west of the city."

"Advank precinct," murmured Juno, mostly to herself. Ahsoka nodded, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes," she said, "You familiar with that area, Captain?"

"I grew up there," Juno replied, old memories creeping back into her mind. She had done a good job of decidedly not thinking about her childhood, back before she had even joined the Academy. It was a long time ago. There was no need to bring it up now, so she didn't say anything else.

"I see," Ahsoka didn't seem surprised; Juno doubted that anything phased her, these days.

"Well," she continued, "We're to go to the co-ordinates they provided us, and then someone will meet us there and give us new co-ordinates in person to the location of their hideout. It's just for security purposes. Both the transmission and the co-ordinates in question came from the aforementioned precinct."

Ahsoka turned to Leia. "I think that's all for now. We're just waiting on the go-ahead from the Alliance leaders, but the storm has grounded us for the time being. If all goes to plan, we should be departing in a few days' time."

Leia nodded. "Yes. Apart from that, all preparations appear to be complete." The princess looked around the room. Juno, too, looked around at her companions. Galen, Kota, Ahsoka; the three Force-users looked deceptively calm about their upcoming mission. Juno knew better, for at least one of the three: sometimes Galen still woke in a panic, breathing heavily. He hadn't had much luck figuring anything out yet.

Then there were the ordinary soldiers and engineers of the mission: Gipp, Neve, and Jesman (the enthusiastic Mon Calamari who had befriended Galen) were sitting together, giving each other cautious side-eyed glances. She'd spoken to them a few times since that dinner, and had heard their concerns about the upcoming mission. There were still so many vague details; so many things that could potentially go wrong. Juno, personally, was concerned with the lack of responsibility the Rebel Alliance was taking with the mission – she understood what undercover meant, of course, but going as far as to deny all responsibility for their little group if they were caught seemed a little harsh. Coming from the Empire, she understood what harsh was.

At the back of the room, there were the rest of the small task force: Starter, who she'd exchanged a few friendly words with, but nothing meaningful since their initial meeting; and Yisha and Ari – two young cadets who had defected from one of the Imperial academies. On the base, the young Ensigns had both been assigned to delivering messages around the base, something that seemed to terrify them – especially when dealing with Galen. Juno tried not to smirk at the thought. She was, admittedly, surprised that cadets so young had been allowed to join such a risky mission, but what they lacked in experience they made up for in copious amounts of enthusiasm.

Overall, Juno figured it was a pretty decent task force. She admittedly hadn't done a huge amount of espionage in her time, but she had been taught enough back in the Imperial Academy to be an asset to the group. Her extensive knowledge of the Empire, if nothing else, was good for something.

The meeting was brought to a close; Leia would personally check in with everyone before their departure from Echo Base, and everyone had last-minute checks to be getting back to.

Galen and Juno left the room together, and Juno noticed how easy it was for them to hold hands. Back when she was on the _Salvation II,_ fraternisation of any kind had been frowned upon, and whilst their relationship wasn't forbidden by the Alliance – Galen hadn't been directly assigned to Juno's command, so it therefore wasn't a breach of protocol – they had preferred to keep things on the down-low. Especially when Juno was the captain of an entire frigate, and was therefore (in Galen's words) "responsible".

But now, in her new position (whatever that was; she didn't have a formal title, though everyone still addressed her as 'Captain'), she felt more at liberty to do...well, whatever she wanted. It wasn't something she'd had the luxury of doing before, ever.

"You seem a little quiet," Galen commented, as they walked along the icy corridors. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"You're one to talk," she pointed out, smiling slightly. He took a deep breath as if to argue, then relaxed.

"Okay, you have a point. But, in all seriousness, that thing about Advank Precinct? Are you – are you alright?"

Her initial response was to shrug and say she was fine, but – well, this was Galen. And she had hidden enough from him already.

"Well," she began, "You know I grew up there."

Galen nodded affirmative.

"It's a pretty poor part of Curamelle. You only see the shiny, Imperial capital in the holovids, but it's got a whole darker underworld that nobody sees." She gave a short, mirthless laugh. "Unless you live there."

"Anyway," she continued, "I lived there with my mother and father, though latterly just my father. Once I was accepted into the Academy, I visited home less and less. My father barely spoke to me, barely acknowledged I existed. When I graduated, I came home one last time, packed all my things into a bag, and left without a word." She sighed. "I never thought I would see Corulag, let alone the area I grew up in, again in my lifetime."

"You've never mentioned this before," said Galen softly, squeezing her hand. She shrugged.

"It was never important," she replied, "I put that part of my life behind me. My father probably thinks I'm dead, anyway. I'm sure he was still down on some form somewhere as my next of kin if anything happened to me."

Galen swallowed. "Like...being branded a traitor to the Empire and sentenced to execution?"

She managed a tight smile. "Yes. I'm sure the words 'traitor' made his day." _Serves him right_ , she thought, but stopped herself short before she said it. When had she become so bitter?

"Do you think he still lives there?" Galen asked. Juno frowned; she had not thought about it before.

"I don't know," she replied, honestly. "We didn't have a lot of money, so I doubt he's moved. I...I don't know what I would say to him if I ever saw him again."

"He didn't deserve you," muttered Galen, his expression suddenly dark. Juno nudged him gently.

"Hey," she said, "I'm over it now. It was a long time ago." She managed a smile, comforted by the thought that she hadn't needed her father's recognition for a long time. Galen nodded, hesitantly.

"I know," he sighed, "But some things leave deeper scars than others." Absent-mindedly, he reached up to scratch the back of his head, his eyes distant; Juno thought back to their first meeting, when Galen's hair was shorn thin and he didn't have a proper name.

"Yeah," Juno admitted, "They do."

* * *

Sometime later, Juno was lounging in the pilot's chair of the _Rogue Shadow_ , flicking idly through some news articles on her datapad. She hated to use the term 'lounging', but she was off-duty for the time being, and Galen had practically sat her on the chair himself and told her to take a break. After the meeting, she had spent the morning and most of the afternoon working on the _Rogue Shadow,_ making sure it was up for the flight to Corulag. Sure, there were mechanics on the base, but she knew the _Shadow_ better than she knew her own father. The ship was so specialised that generally neither she nor Galen would let anyone near it, let alone tinker with it.

Distantly, she heard a light tapping on the hull, accompanied by a faint voice.

"Hello? Captain Eclipse? A-are you in there?"

Juno stood up and made her way to the landing ramp, which was sitting open whilst she and Galen did their repairs. Yisha, one of the young cadets, was hovering nervously around the entrance, evidently unsure on how to proceed. On seeing Juno, she saluted, blinking nervously. Juno waved her down, trying not to appear too irritable.

"At ease, cadet. What is it?"

"Uh – I was s-sent to tell you...You're needed in the comm tower, immediately. Something about Corulag comm frequencies. And h-hyperspace lanes."

"Really? Right this moment?" Juno frowned, having just begun to enjoy her rest. It didn't help that her back was killing her, and a moment's sit-down was – begrudgingly – just what she had needed. And she had discussed transponder codes and hyperspace lanes constantly with the Rebel leaders for the last three weeks – why they would need her input, _again_ , was beyond her.

Yisha swallowed nervously. "Just following orders, ma'am."

She sighed heavily, and fixed the unfortunate message-bearer with a glare. "I'll be right there."

The cadet nodded, and hurried off. "Yes, ma'am."

"Trouble?" Galen appeared from around the back of the _Rogue Shadow,_ holding a hydrospanner and covered in an inordinate amount of engine oil. Juno held back a laugh.

"It certainly looks like it," she chuckled, "What did you do?"

Galen coughed. "Oh...I, uh, ran into some problems. With refuelling. But PROXY and I fixed it, don't worry."

Juno raised a sceptical eyebrow. "A Jedi and a combat droid? I need to go and attend to some business, but when I come back I'm having a look at whatever mess you made."

"For the record, I think one of the newer recruits messed up the fuel line. Blame them. But what business? I thought we're supposed to be prepping for departure?"

She shrugged. "I thought so too. Apparently it's urgent, whatever it is. I won't be long, promise."

Galen gave a slight smile. "Okay. See you around."

She kissed him briefly on the lips, glad that they were in a relatively secluded part of the hangar. His eyes lingered on her for a second after, and once again her insides recoiled at the secret she was still keeping. Forcing a smile, she waved and zipped up her large jacket even further, making her way towards the turbolifts.

She ran some numbers on her datapad whilst waiting for the lift to arrive. Weather depending, they were due to depart in two days' time, and their ships would start arriving on Corulag approximately five to ten days after that. Having extensive knowledge of Imperial hyperspace routes, she had helped to plan courses for each ship – seven in total – from Hoth to Corulag. Each ship would be travelling in different directions, and would therefore arrive at different times, averting suspicion. It was, admittedly, a similar tactic to one used several years previously; at least this time, they weren't carrying an all-powerful Sith Lord with a personal level of hatred for Galen.

Juno was confident it would work; they had a myriad of species and races working together, and enough forged documents to make it look legitimate.

The only trouble that now awaited them was what lay on the other side.

* * *

Galen watched Juno go with an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. For weeks now, she had been avoiding his questions, his queries regarding her wellbeing. Ever since she had arrived, something was obviously wrong; he just couldn't pinpoint _what_ , and it frustrated him.

Even worse, he had woken up that morning with a general sense of dread hanging over him, for once not related to Juno. He couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen. Which, of course, would be useful, if – again – he could figure out what the Force was actually telling him. He often had to remind himself that, despite his many years of training with the Force, he still had much to learn.

Exhaling loudly, he shook his head and began cleaning up his tools. He had promised Kota they would meet for a sparring session, and the old man had apparently invited the other rogue Jedi of the group, Ahsoka Tano, to join them. Galen didn't know much about the Togruta, apart from the few times they had spoken during meetings. She made him uneasy, and gave him a sense that she knew more about him than he did. Juno had noted that they actually had much in common, if you believed the rumours whispered around the base – both Galen and Ahsoka had turned away from their initial path of training; away from their Masters. Both had forged knew paths for themselves.

Galen wasn't sure what to make of that comparison, so he had said nothing. Truth be told, Juno was probably right, but he didn't like to admit it.

He shrugged off his dirty overalls and changed back into his usual getup of a simple tunic and trousers under his armour. Attaching his dual lightsabers to his belt returned a sense of normalcy, at least. He was no expert in matters of the heart, or other human beings, but he could at least hold his own in battle.

"Hey, PROXY!" he called out to the droid, who was rustling around in the box of tools. Ship repairing was most definitely not the droid's primary programming, but PROXY was nonetheless determined to help. The droid's servomotors whirred as he turned to look at Galen, photoreceptors blinking.

"Yes, master?"

"I'm going up to the training room for some sparring practise with Kota and Tano. We might need you, if you're up to it."

PROXY almost looked indignant. "I must remind you I was _built_ for sparring, master Galen. I can provide multiple different tactics and lightsaber forms, a far superior opponent to any organic one."

Galen gave a small smile. "Thought so."

He had missed the droid whilst he was away; he wouldn't bring himself to admit it out loud, but he was very fond of the droid, and leaving PROXY in Juno's care would ensure that he would be safe. Or, as safe as the Rebellion could be, anyway.

Kota and Ahsoka were waiting for him by the time him and PROXY had reached the training room. Kota nodded as he entered.

"Finally, you're here. Thought you'd never show up. And the droid's here! Excellent."

Galen wasn't sure if the last part was sarcasm, but he chose to ignore it. PROXY could handle himself, anyway.

"I think you'll find, General, that the last time we fought I managed to beat you in approximately six minutes and twenty-nine seconds. Perhaps that is why you have refused to train with me since."

Galen bit back a laugh, but he heard Ahsoka chuckle under her breath.

"Tano," he said, "Nice to see you."

"And you," she nodded. "I've never had the pleasure of meeting your droid, though."

"Ah," he replied, "Well, this is PROXY. PROXY, say hello."

The droid moved one of his limbs in an approximation of a human wave.

"Good afternoon, Lady Tano. From the databanks, I can see that you favour the Form V reverse grip, like my master. I can assure you that I am proficient in that combat style, having fought my master and adapting to his style for many years."

"I...what?" The Togruta had a bemused expression on her face. Galen realised that his unconventional childhood was perhaps not common knowledge to everyone.

"Uh, what PROXY means is that...he was programmed as a combat droid, and he can simulate various different lightsaber styles to practise against. His primary programming used to be to kill me in a duel, but thankfully we, uh, changed that." Galen coughed, embarrassedly. To her credit, Ahsoka didn't look in this least bit fazed by this information.

"I see." She narrowed her eyes at PROXY, the hint of a smile on her face. "What about Djem So?"

PROXY's photoreceptors lit up. "Ah! A newer one for my model, but an enjoyable style nonetheless. Would you care for a duel, Lady Tano?"

Ahsoka nodded. "Sure. And, please, call me Ahsoka. I'm not that formal."

Suddenly, PROXY lunged, clearly in an attempt to catch Ahsoka off-guard. Immediately her lightsabers snapped to life, white light matching the ice walls around them. Droid and Togruta clashed in what even Galen admitted was an impressive display. Whilst Galen himself favoured a direct approach in combat, Ahsoka reserved herself; she leaped in circles around the droid, always one step out of reach. She parried PROXY's blows with expert precision, never letting him close enough to land any blows.

PROXY, who had taken the form of a nameless human Jedi, held his own, but after some time it transpired that he was no match for Ahsoka. After a serious of staggering attacks, she turned on the offensive and plunged her shorter lightsaber into his back, white light clashing with sparks. PROXY shuddered to a halt, his holographic displays switching back to his droid self.

"A fine match, Lady Tano," he wheezed, photoreceptors flickering slightly. Ahsoka, who was only a little out of breath, put a concerned hand on his shoulder, helping the droid stand. She turned to Galen.

"Is it – he – alright?"

"Oh, he's fine. Just needs an oil bath or something. We'll get you one when we get to Corulag," he patted the droid on the shoulder.

PROXY nodded. "The cold weather isn't good for my joints." He wobbled over to sit down next to Kota, who frowned.

"You're very attached to him," noted Ahsoka, watching the droid sit. Galen shrugged.

"I've known him a while," he said. Tano was friendly enough, but he got the impression that she didn't trust him, and he didn't want to give out more information than he needed to. She merely made a non-committal noise, and sat down cross-legged on the floor. Her eyes closed in meditation, and it was clear their conversation was over. Galen turned to Kota.

"Up for a duel, old man?"

"Is that a challenge?"

Galen's mouth twitched. "Against you? Hardly."

Baiting Kota usually did the trick, and the old Jedi 'harrumphed' irritably. "I suppose I still need someone to keep me on my toes," he muttered, unclipping his lightsaber from his belt.

"That's more like it," said Galen, "You're the one who asked me up here, after all."

Green and blue lightsabers sprang into action, and Galen was reminded once again how forceful a fighter Kota was, despite his blindness. The older man knew his weaknesses, favouring heavy blows and a steady stance, as opposed to agility and speed. Galen still remembered their first fight; it felt like eons ago. He was still a naïve apprentice, eager for the blood of Jedi; Kota, a once-respected General. It had been him and Juno's first mission together, too – she had commented on how they were walking into a trap, but had dutifully given him instructions and flown the ship without fault.

Even over five years later, he looked at Kota's bandaged eyes with a sense of guilt. That, after all, had been his doing; it was an issue that hadn't really been addressed, what with near-deaths and resurrections in the aftermath of the Death Star. Juno had told him of the conversation that she'd had with Kota, after Galen's supposed 'death'. Kota had known all along who they were; who he was. And had willingly trusted him and gone along with him anyway.

Galen realised that his musings were causing him to let his guard down, and narrowly missed Kota's blade. He leaped out of the way, barely out of breath, and Kota chuckled.

"Daydreaming again? The Empire won't go so easy on you, you know."

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes at Kota's teaching voice. "I know."

They continued their fight, already far longer than Ahsoka and PROXY'S match. Galen had brute strength on his side, whilst Kota had a strong defence. Ahsoka finished her meditations and watched their match from the side-lines, absent-mindedly levitating the parts of her lightsabers around her. For the first time in a long time, Galen felt at peace – the flow of combat was as familiar to him as breathing, and Kota was a worthy opponent. He also privately admitted that fighting without fear of death felt notably different to many of his fights with PROXY in his youth. It was almost...relaxing. Well, relaxing for _him_ , anyway. He suspected Kota was tiring, as he was starting to slip up, leaving himself open for Galen to strike.

Suddenly, time seemed to slow as several things happened at once; first, Galen felt a terrible sense of dread wash over him, right before he was about to disarm the General. Second, he sank to his knees, noticing a similar expression pass over the faces of his two companions. The dread on Ahsoka's face was palpable; he had never seen the calm, collected Togruta look so distressed. And third, he felt a presence that he had never wanted to sense ever again so long as he lived.

 _Vader. He's here. Along with the Empire and their ships._

Ahsoka knew. And she likely knew more than him.

The whole experience had lasted less than ten seconds but already the three Force-users were alert and ready for action.

"The base's proximity alarms," said Ahsoka tersely, "They haven't activated yet. We need to warm someone."

"I'll go," muttered Kota, activating his comlink, "We can rendezvous at the _Shadow._ Princess Leia will have orders for us, I suspect. And PROXY! With me. We may need a quick exit."

Galen and Ahsoka nodded as the old Jedi loped off towards the central command centre, PROXY hurrying not far behind him.

"I need to call Juno," Galen turned to Ahsoka, "She's not safe."

"Where is she at the moment?"

"The communications tower," replied Galen, his heart sinking. That was the most remote part of the base. It would take some time to get to the hangar bays normally, but with everything soon to be on lockdown-

"Marek. Snap out of it. We need to defend this base. You can call her when we're on the move." Ahsoka was shaking his arm, pulling him out of his panic.

"Right," he rubbed his forehead, trying to erase the looming presence of Vader, "Let's get moving, then."

* * *

"Okay, so we've got routes heading _here_ and _here_ ," Juno pointed to some brightly-coloured lines highlighted on the holomap, "And another one that heads around this nebula – see how the ship emissions can be disguised by the solar interference..."

"And in relation to our communication points?" Neve frowned, confused.

"Well," Juno typed a few commands into the console and zoomed closer into a map of Corulag, "This tower has managed to pick up insurgent frequencies from _here, here_ and _here._ Those are the hyperspace lanes that, according to them, the Empire doesn't know about, or at the very least doesn't use. I can vouch for that claim – those routes are our safest bets."

She had been asked to help out with mapping some hyperspace lanes, but she hadn't realised it was going to turn into a full-on lecture. Not that she minded, of course. Once the initial irritation at being called on, _again,_ has passed, she was proud that she could pass on her knowledge to the rest of the Rebellion.

"Oh, Captain Eclipse," one of the young cadets, Ari, gestured to Juno's lapel, "Your comlink is flashing."

" _Shavit,"_ Juno muttered. She'd muted it so that she could do her calculations in peace and not be bothered by any other Rebels. The flashing light, and the fact that it was the emergency channel that Galen used hailing her, quickly made her regret that decision.

Snapping open her comlink, she spoke quickly. "Galen, what's wrong?"

"Juno, the Empire is here, they've just arrived in the system. We need to evacuate the base!"

Juno frowned, reaching over to the nearest terminal to check the scanners. They were clear, with the only movement outside the base being native animals. "What? Are you sure? Scanners are coming up cl-"

Her reply was cut off by a high-pitched wailing noise; Juno winced as the base's proximity alarms blared into action. Neve stood up, eyes wide.

"That's the evac alarm!" Others in the room were also scrambling from their seats, running for the door. The Sullustan patched into her comlink, hastily tapping shutdown commands into all the monitors as she did so.

"They've spotted a probe droid near the outskirts of the base. It's likely the Empire won't be far behind. Instructions are being relayed to our datapads."

Sure enough, Juno pulled up the emergency commands being pinged to her tablet.

"Rendezvous with the fleet?" she asked, "But what about our mission?"

Neve shrugged. "I guess we'll find out when we get there. I don't know about you, but I'm getting the hell out of here. I don't fancy being here when the Empire's soldiers land."

Juno nodded, her heart racing. "I'll get to the _Rogue Shadow_ and power it up. You coming with us?"

Neve nodded fervently. "I trust that stealth ship more than those X-Wing fighters."

Distantly, Juno could hear the rumblings of a starship. _Destroyer_ -class, most likely. It wouldn't be long before the Imperial troops would arrive on the ground. She knew how it worked. Nodding, she followed Neve and the others out of the communications room and into the icy labyrinth of corridors.

"-uno? Juno, are you there?"

Juno pressed a hand to her ear. "Galen?"

"He's here. I can feel him."

Juno didn't have to ask who Galen was referring to.

"You don't have to fight him, Galen," she said, pausing in her running for a second to catch her breath.

"I-I know. I remember what happened last time. It almost didn't end well for either of us. Ahsoka feels it too." He paused, and Juno could hear his voice catching. "You need to get to the _Shadow."_

"I'm making my way there now. I'm with Neve and some of the technicians. We were at the communications tower."

"The comm-? Juno, that's the other end of the base! The Empire have _landed!"_

She shook her head. "Just tell PROXY to get the ship prepped if I'm not there in time. I'll get there, don't worry."

On the other end of the line, he sighed heavily. "Fine. Be careful. I love you."

"I love you too."

Juno closed the line with a frown. She jogged to catch up with the others, remembering that her knowledge of the base was still far from perfect. Getting lost whilst the base was being evacuated? Not such a smart move.

"Where to now?" she asked Neve, who was leading the way. The engineer's trademark humour had vanished, replaced by worry. She brought up some schematics on her datapad to show Juno.

"Well, this way _should_ be the quickest route to the hangar bay," Neve explained, pointing at the miniature diagram, " _But_ there's an entry hatch about halfway along this corridor, and my bet is that it's the first place the stormtroopers are going to breach if they're attacking the base."

"Wouldn't the first place be the hangar bay?" asked Juno, "Wide opening, clear access for AT-ATs, easy access from there to the rest of the base."

Neve shook her head. "The noises from the battle are coming from the wrong side. The hangar bay faces outwards, away from the power generators. This entry hatch is almost directly next to them."

As she spoke, a large explosion rocked the base, causing the floor to shudder under their feet. Juno reached out and placed a hand on the icy wall for support, resisting the urge to place her hand over her stomach. It would do nothing to protect her or her baby, but it would certainly make her feel better.

They had only just begun to dust themselves off from the first explosion when another one came right behind it. The lights in the corridor flickered and died, leaving only the dim green emergency lights by the floor. Behind them, there was a distant rumble, possibly signifying a cave-in (a not uncommon occurrence, Juno had learned, but unwelcome nonetheless).

"They're targeting the power generator!" Jesman gasped, "We'll never make it out in time if it blows!"

His large eyes bulged in panic, and Juno could see that he was shaking.

"Hey, hey," she soothed, patting his arm gently, "We'll make it out of here just fine. Is everyone else okay?"

The rest of small group – now just Juno, Neve, Jesman, and the two cadets – nodded, and Juno looked to Neve for some guidance. If Juno's intuitions were right, they couldn't return the way they came if the corridor was caved in. Their only chance appeared to be going forward, and fervently hope that they didn't cross paths with any stormtroopers.

* * *

Galen snapped his comlink shut and sighed, running a hand over his brow. He could feel through the Force that Juno was okay, but it didn't make their current predicament any easier.

"She'll be alright," said Ahsoka, "She can handle herself."

He nodded, tersely. "Thanks," he muttered. He appreciated Ahsoka's attempts to console him, though Vader's looming presence, combined with his worry for Juno, was making it difficult for him to think about anything else.

The ground rumbled as they ran towards the central command centre. By the time they arrived, the command centre's only inhabitants were Princess Leia and General Rieekan, the man in charge of the whole operation. Leia sat at one of the terminals, plugged into a headset with a troubled expression on her face.

"How are the evacuations going?" Ahsoka addressed both the princess and the general. Rieekan ran a hand through greying hair.

"We're sending out two X-Wings at a time to escort the civilian cargo ships," he said, bringing up the schematics on the holo-projector, "But the Empire has sent an entire fleet. So far most of the cargo ships have gotten away, but..."

"...But if the Empire gets to the power generators before we've been able to evacuate everyone, we're as good as dead," finished Leia, her eyebrows knitted in concern. Rieekan turned to the princess.

"Your Highness, I must insist that you get on the next transport scheduled to leave. The Rebellion can't afford to lose you."

She shook her head fervently. "I'm not leaving until I know everyone is safe." At that, she turned to Galen.

"Where are Juno and the others? I haven't had the chance to communicate with them."

"The last I heard of her, she was up at the transmissions centre," replied Galen, his steady voice not betraying his inner worry, "She was with some of the other technicians."

Leia nodded. "I see. Just in case I don't get the chance, take this." She handed him a small datachip. "Anything beyond local transmission is being jammed, so I can't broadcast this ship-wide to your entire party. Send it when you get out of here."

Galen frowned. "Leia – Your Highness, I – are you sure?"

"It's for the good of the Rebellion. I trust you, Galen."

General Rieekan cleared his throat. "I don't want to ask too much of you, but we've got soldiers outside defending the front lines. Help them hold off the Empire for as long as you can, and wait for the order to retreat. We're not going to win this, but we should at least try to minimise the casualties."

Galen gripped his lightsabers, and felt Ahsoka do the same. "Yes, General. We'll do our best."

"May the Force be with you," added Ahsoka as they turned and left, jogging for the surface. He felt sadness radiating from her, and wasn't sure why. Tano often presented more questions than answers; much like himself, he supposed. He wondered if he would ever find all the answers to his questions. Then again, perhaps whilst facing imminent danger – _and possibly death,_ his mind helpfully supplied – wasn't the best time to be thinking about that. Focus. He had to focus. He had never been very good at it.

They reached one of the hatches that led to the outdoors, a thick durasteel door with a heavy, circular handle. " _Stars_ , Marek," muttered Ahsoka, as they worked to get the door open, "You have _got_ to work on your emotions. You're practically broadcasting your location to every single Force-user in the galaxy."

He felt momentarily indignant, despite the seriousness of their situation. "My _feelings,_ " he grunted, giving the door one final push as it cracked open, "Are no-one's business but my own."

"Well," snapped Ahsoka, gasping as the cold air rushed in, "I would tend to agree, but you seem to forget that _I'm_ a Force-user too. I'm getting a lot of things from you that I didn't particularly need to know."

That shut him up, and he exhaled loudly through gritted teeth. The exterior of the base was absolutely _freezing_ , even more so since the last time Galen had ventured outside. In the distance, he could see Rebel soldiers tramping through thick snow, hiding behind barriers as they attempted to ward off Imperial Walkers from the power generators.

Igniting his lightsabers steadied his mind, the brilliant blue in stark contrast to the white of the storm. Unlike inside the base, he felt calm, measured. They had a job to do.

With Ahsoka running alongside him, they leapt in front of the Rebels' defences and headed towards the enemy. Galen had fought many, _many_ of those AT-STs before; letting loose its own cannons on itself and pummelling it to the ground felt like second nature. Ahsoka's approach garnered less explosions, but was effective nonetheless: a single, brilliant push from the Force would topple the machines in on themselves, and then it only took a few blows from her lightsabers to finish it off.

Once the first wave of walkers were destroyed, the two of them retreated back to the Rebels' defensive barriers.

"Everyone alright?" Ahsoka enquired after the Rebel soldiers, huddled in the cold.

"We've had a few casualties. Rigson, Bikkan, and Nicks. No injuries, apart from that," said the commander, nodding soberly.

"It won't be long until they send another wave," said Galen, looking out at the horizon, "How many transports still have to get clear?"

The commander checked her comlink. "There's still four to go, plus a couple of fighters. I don't think the Empire is done with us yet, though. I was on Scarif – this is barely scratching the surface."

Galen nodded. "Agreed. They're lulling us into a false sense of security." He was wary of developing a pattern, of getting too comfortable, but when all the Empire sent were walkers – capable of being taken down by one lightsaber-wielder – it was easy to presume that that's all the Empire had to throw at them.

Of course, Galen knew better. Ahsoka certainly knew better, judging by the way she glanced at the horizon every few seconds.

"You should retreat while you can," she told the commander.

"Whilst the Empire is still attacking? I think not! And look, out there in the distance – what _is_ that!?"

Galen looked to where her gloved hand was pointing, and his heart sank. Five times the size of a walker, three massive AT-ATs loomed through the blizzard. Through the swirling blizzard, the distant rumbles of the AT-AT walkers were horribly audible. He could almost feel the ground shake from their enormous feet stepping forward, one by one; a slow, inevitable death march.

Nevertheless, he turned and started heading out towards the beasts in the distance.

"What are you doing?" Ahsoka grabbed him by the elbow. He shook her off.

"Defending the base."

"On your own? Marek, you're powerful, _really_ powerful, but even you shouldn't go solo against three AT-ATs. That's just – just suicide."

Galen looked back at the AT-ATs in the distance. Around them, the Rebels were patching themselves up and preparing for another wave, rifles slung over shoulder and wearing grim expressions. They were willing to die for the cause. So was he. He'd done it once before, after all.

Not that he actively went looking for suicide missions. But he saw the power of the oncoming walkers – with all due respect to the Rebellion, they didn't have the foot soldiers to take them down. Galen, on the other hand, just might manage.

"I'll be fine," he told Ahsoka. She frowned, her face markings twisting into an expression he didn't understand.

"I'm not asking for myself," she said. Predictably, Juno came to mind. Galen tried not to think of where she was, if she was safe.

He nodded towards the soldiers. "Keep them safe. Get to the _Rogue Shadow_ once everyone's evacuated."

"And you?"

"I'll make it back in time."

The Togruta snorted. "I'll hold you to that. You're being an idiot, but I can't stop you."

He shrugged, more casually than he felt. "I've heard that before."

Igniting his lightsabers, he turned again and headed out into the snow. Thankfully, the weather conditions were better than normal – a relative term, on Hoth, because 'better than normal' still equalled snow storms and sub-zero conditions.

As he ran through the thick snow towards the chaos, he was distantly aware of one of the AT-AT pilots noticing him, and its entire set of guns turning their attention on him.

He smiled grimly.

Now _this_ he could handle.

* * *

 **A/N:** writing action sequences...is...so...hard...If i had it my way this fic would be solid 20 chapters of introspection and dialogue, but that would be very boring for everyone else, i suspect!  
Anyway this chapter has been probably the most difficult out of all of them to write, so i hope it turned out okay. my motivation isn't what it used to be but i am still determined to see this through until the end!

I also saw Rogue One whilst writing this so i took some time out to write some fic for that. like HOLY SHIT though it was so good and i cried so much! It got me thinking about how there's some similarities between Jyn and Juno, not least in their initials and similar-sounding names (J.E.), and believe me it was weird hearing the name "Galen" bandied around a bunch of times in an ACTUAL STAR WARS MOVIE. It makes me happy that, whilst the force unleashed etc. is no longer canon, they're still taking concepts from it (it lives on in my heart)

The next chapter will be posted...at some point. it is half-written, i can tell you that! things are happening ;) As always, favourites and reviews are always appreciated!


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